


Out of Hell Leads Up To Light

by WarlockWriter



Series: Bonded Angels [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Grace Bonds, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sharing a Bed, post 13x17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 21:38:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 38,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15693882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlockWriter/pseuds/WarlockWriter
Summary: Sam wasn’t happy about sending Dean off to Apocalypse World with Ketch, but what was he to do? He had a broken archangel to put back together.Set just after 13x17 and is not canon compliant with the rest of the season.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to [HixyStix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaiaMyles/pseuds/HixyStix) for the beta. Special thanks for finding and making me deal with a major plot hole. This is why we have beta readers.
> 
> Art by the amazing [queen-of-the-trash-people](https://queen-of-the-trash-people.tumblr.com/)
> 
> This is a loose sequel to my 2017 Dean/Cas BB story, [As Far as Angel’s Ken](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12376797). By loose, I mean you don’t have to have read the prior story for this one to make sense (although you would make me very happy if you did read it). Here’s all you need to know:
> 
> 1\. Angel’s Ken is sort of an alternate Season 9, basically replacing everything up to Dean taking the Mark of Cain. My ‘verse and canon ‘verse converge at roughly that point.  
> 2\. Dean and Cas were together at the end of Angel’s Ken but aren’t now, which I explain in this story.  
> 3\. Because Season 9 basically didn’t happen, two bits of angel/Cas lore don’t apply. First, angels can taste—that’s required for a major plot point in this story. Second, Cas does not have the entirety of human literature in his head. Sorry, Metatron, that was a dick move which I decree never happened.
> 
> Story title taken from Paradise Lost by John Milton.

Sam watched Dean and Ketch vanish into the Rift. To say that he was unhappy about the sight would be the understatement of the century. Maybe last century too.

Sighing, he turned back to Gabriel. Sam couldn’t help his brother, but he could do something for a broken archangel. Sam knew all too well what it was like to suffer endless torture. Gabriel was still sitting in the chair where Sam had put him to remove the stitches. The archangel was hunched over, eyes closed, expression full of fear and misery. Sam looked him over. Gabriel was covered with wounds and bruises, in various stages of healing. He was filthy with ragged clothes, and he was far too thin.

Shower, healing and food? He wasn’t sure if food would actually work to fatten up an angel, but it probably wouldn’t hurt. The order made sense.

Now to implement the plan, as simple as it was.

“Let’s see if we can’t get you cleaned up. Then I can take a look at your injuries and see what I can do for them. I’m guessing Asmodeus drained your grace down to the point that you can’t heal your vessel, so old fashioned Hunter healing methods will have to suffice.”

He moved slowly toward Gabriel. He remembered all too well how twitchy he’d been in the Cage. He’d watched every move made by Lucifer and Michael, weighing and evaluating them for threat factor. Fast moves were definitely bad, and he assumed Gabriel would react similarly.

Sam reached out a hand, clearly communicating everything he was doing. “I’m going to help you up and down the hall to the shower. Is that okay?” He placed a gentle hand on Gabriel’s arm, applying barely any pressure, hoping not to startle the damaged angel.

Of course, Gabriel jerked back anyway.

Patiently, Sam reached out again, touch as gentle as he could make it. This time Gabriel suffered it. Sam closed his hand around the angel’s bicep and tugged, just a bit. Gabriel sighed and stood up, swaying slightly as he found his feet. Sam moved his hand under Gabriel’s shoulder and steadied him.

Nearly ten minutes later, they made it to his bathroom. Sam kept looking behind him, noticing the trail of bloody footprints they were leaving behind. He’d have to scrub those after getting the angel cleaned up.

Sam settled Gabriel on the toilet seat and considered his next moves. Under the circumstances, he doubted Gabriel would be able to bathe himself, so he decided he’d have to join him in the shower.

He wished Gabriel were able to respond in some way, to make his wishes known. Perhaps another angel could get through to him. At which point Sam realized he had been missing the obvious.

He took out his phone and knelt in front of his charge. “Gabriel. I’m going to call Castiel. Your brother. Do you remember him?”

A hint of an eye flick. Well, it would have to do.

Sam made the call and turned slightly away from Gabriel, not wanting the sight of the broken angel to alter the tone of his voice and give away his anxiety over the phone. The last thing he needed right now were two frightened angels.

Cas picked up on the second ring. “Sam?”

“Where are you?” Sam asked.

“On my way back to the bunker. My last lead to the Seal of Solomon didn’t go anywhere.”

“Don’t worry about that now. We found the Seal.”

“You did? Where?” Excitement laced the other angel’s voice.

“It’s a long story, and I’d rather not tell it over the phone. Just get back as soon as you can. We have a…situation.” That was one way to put it. “How far are you?”

“About two hours. Is Dean all right?”

Sam couldn’t help but smile at that. Dean and Cas had finally figured out how they felt for each other during the events following Angel’s Fall. It had been a love affair for the ages. Until Dean had accepted the Mark of Cain. That had created an understandable strain in their relationship, and they weren’t _together_ together at the moment. That didn’t mean they they’d stopped loving and worrying about each other, though.

However, it did make answering the question awkward. “Like I said, I don’t want to talk about it over the phone. Just get here as quick as you can.”

Over the phone, Sam heard the engine roar increase. Cas would get every bit of speed that he could out of the old pickup.

“I’m on my way.”

Sam hung up and turned back to Gabriel. For a moment he didn’t see the archangel, but as his eyes tracked around the small bathroom, he found him, cowering in one corner of the shower.

Oh well. At least that solved the problem of how to get him in there.

Sam knelt down beside Gabriel. “I need to take your clothes off. Is that okay? I promise. I won’t do anything to hurt you.” He put as much conviction into his voice as he could. There was no response, but by now he was taking no response as a “yes,” so he reached out and gently started removing the other man’s tattered clothes.

The angel didn’t help, but nor did he resist, and Sam was able to quickly divest him of the filthy shirt and pants. For some reason, it infuriated him that Asmodeus hadn’t let his prisoner have underwear. Which led to the briefest distracted wondering if Cas wore underwear. Dean would know, of course, but Sam didn’t want to ask.

He was surprised that dealing with Gabriel had so thoroughly distracted him from worrying about his brother. Even though he couldn’t see the Rift from here, he couldn’t help glancing in its direction, wishing that Dean, or even Ketch, would come through the door right then.

However, even he had to admit that there hadn’t been enough time for them to complete their mission, and he returned his attention to his charge.

As soon as his clothes had been removed, Gabriel returned to his hunched over posture, eyes closed again.

Sam stood up to start the water, carefully angling the flow of water away from the still figure until it reached a comfortable temperature. While the old pipes warmed up, Sam started to remove his own clothes. Gabriel didn’t react until Sam started to unbutton his jeans. A whimper escaped him, and Sam froze, hand on the button. Then he mentally swore at himself. He’d seen the dried blood caking the archangel’s thighs, and he knew from bitter experience exactly what that meant.

“Not a problem. These jeans need washing anyway.” He left his jeans on. “But I do want to remove my boots.”

Gabriel had no reaction to that statement, and Sam removed his boots and socks. Clad only in his jeans, which really were dirty from their last case, he stepped into the shower with the naked angel. Although they were making a wet mess of the floor, Sam didn’t close the shower door, knowing that shutting off an escape route would be a bad idea.

It took three times before Gabriel’s hair bore some semblance of clean. Sam had used his floral-scented shampoo—which he only bought to irk his brother—and the bathroom smelled sweet.

Once the angel’s hair was clean and un-matted, Sam moved to the rest of his body, carefully avoiding certain areas. He figured the fall of soapy water would be sufficient for now.

It was a good thing the Bunker had a seemingly unlimited supply of hot water because it took almost half an hour for Sam to get Gabriel clean and dry. The angel hadn’t protested any of the handling, but he hadn’t helped either, and Sam had to keep coaxing him to remain upright. Getting him to raise his head had been a hopeless cause, and he’d opted to just leave the front of his neck unwashed.

Once the angel was clean, Sam dried him off and sat him back down on the toilet seat. He looked him over. There were few open wounds on his legs, mostly just bruising. His torso, however, was striped with half-healed cuts. “What did he use on you? A cat o’ nine tails?” One cut was particularly deep, and he knew it would need stitches. “Stay there for a minute. Let me get you some clothes before I start working on your injuries.”

He hurried into Dean’s room. The compact angel would swim in his own clothes. On his way back, he stopped by his own room for dry jeans.

By the time he came back with a soft shirt and a pair of sweats, Gabriel was again crouched in one corner of the shower. Again, Sam coaxed him out and helped him into a pair of loose boxers and the sweats. Then he stitched up the deep cut and helped him into the shirt.

Checking the time on his phone, he saw that nearly an hour had passed. Cas would be here soon.

Clean up. Check. Injuries tended. Check. The last item on Sam’s action list was food. He didn’t know if it would do any good, but he was certain it wouldn’t do any harm, and he thought he knew what might work to bring the archangel out of his shell, at least a little bit.

He left Gabriel in the bathroom for a few minutes while he hastily mopped the trail of blood from the floor. Then he and the angel made another slow trek to the kitchen. Sam guided Gabriel to a chair facing the door and moved around the kitchen, gathering what he needed. Milk in a saucer. Bag of dark chocolate baking disks. Marshmallows.

As he warmed the milk, Sam just talked, hoping the sound of his voice would help ground the battered angel in the present and hopefully draw him away from memories of Asmodeus.

“It’s funny. When we were kids, Dean was all about Swiss Miss hot chocolate. ‘Nothing a mug of Swiss Miss can’t cure’ was a common refrain, especially when I was sick or sad that Dad had been gone so long.” As he spoke, he felt another sharp pang at his brother’s loss. It was like sending him and Cas to Purgatory all over again.

“Then we settled into the Bunker and discovered that Dean can cook. Just wait until he gets back and makes you one of his egg sandwiches. I think even you’ll admit they are fit for Heaven. Anyway, suddenly he got particular about his hot chocolate, and he learned to make it from scratch. Good thing he taught me, or you’d still be stuck with Swiss Miss.”

As he spoke, his hands stirred steaming milk and added a healthy portion of chocolate disks. An idea struck him, and he poured a handful of disks in his hand. Walking slowly over to the table, he put down the chocolate within easy reach of Gabriel. If the actual angel were still in there, he’d not be able to resist that temptation.

Sure enough, by the time Sam was pouring hot chocolate into two mugs, several of the disks were gone, although Gabriel didn’t look as if he’d moved at all. Sam hid a smile behind a fake cough and grabbed a handful of marshmallows. Two in each of the mugs still left plenty in his hand, and he dropped them on the table beside the disks. Then he placed Gabriel’s mug in front of his still form.

“It’s yours. Honest.”

The angel didn’t move.

Sam sighed and reached out to take Gabriel’s hands. They looked small and bruised in his own huge hands, but Sam handled them gently, curling them around the steaming mug. “Go ahead. I promise you’ll like it.”

Gabriel’s hands twitched and then grasped the mug. A minute or so later, he slowly brought it to his lips and took a tiny sip.

Sam downed half of his own mug in triumph.


	2. Chapter 2

Gabriel was working on his third cup of hot chocolate when the door to the Bunker opened. He immediately dived behind the counter, and Sam sighed.

“In the kitchen, Cas!”

He had just managed to coax Gabriel into a standing position when Cas charged into the room. “Where’s Dean?” morphed into “Who’s that?” which finally landed on “Gabriel? Brother? You’re not dead!”

Cas stepped forward, probably to give his brother a huge hug, but Gabriel cowered behind Sam, making whimpering noises deep in the back of his throat.

Sam motioned with one hand for Cas to stop while he reached behind with the other to soothe the frightened archangel. Surprisingly, Gabriel calmed and stopped whimpering as soon as Sam touched him.

Cas stopped so quickly that Sam, still fresh from Scooby Doo world, half-expected cartoon skid marks to appear behind him. “Sam? Is that my brother? What’s wrong with him?”

Sam sighed. “One thing at a time, Cas. First, let me get him back to the table and settled.”

Without being told, Cas stepped back to give Sam room. The younger Winchester guided Gabriel back to the table. The angel resisted him for a moment before finally allowing himself to be moved. As soon as he sat back down, he grabbed his mug and pulled it close to his body. His hands were shaking so much that Sam was glad the mug was almost empty.

“Hot chocolate?” Cas asked.

“Yeah. Want a mug?” To Sam’s amusement, Dean’s angel had adopted his eating tastes, preferring burgers and pie to Sam’s yogurt and salads.

Cas nodded. “I’ll make it.” He walked to the stove, passing by Gabriel on his way. “Would you like another, brother?”

To Sam’s surprise, Gabriel gave the tiniest of nods. Apparently hot chocolate had surprising healing powers.

A small smile played about the edges of Cas’ mouth as he went to the fridge to get more milk.

Sam sat down beside Gabriel and leaned over slightly, lowering his voice to a stage whisper. “Dean taught him, and he makes it better than I do.”

Gabriel gave no sign of having heard, but Sam still had the impression the angel was pleased.

As Cas busied himself with making more chocolate, he asked, “What happened? I thought he was dead.” His voice cracked on the last word. Sam could relate, having lost his own brother too many times.

Unfortunately, now Sam had to explain about Dean, Ketch and the Rift.

“Apparently Asmodeus has been using your brother as a chew toy. And he’s been—shooting up on Gabriel’s grace, if that’s even possible.”

Cas dropped the spoon he’d been using to stir chocolate into the milk. “That’s bad.”

Sam nodded. “I know. It looks like he’s depleted Gabriel’s grace to dangerously low levels.”

Cas shook his head. “No. I mean, yes, that’s bad, but that’s not the only reason it’s bad.” He paused for a moment as if deciding how to explain.

Gabriel gave another little whimper and edged his chair a bit closer to Sam, as if he knew what his brother was going to say. Sam wondered if he should reach out a comforting hand but decided that might be going a bit too far too soon.

Instead, he gave Gabriel an encouraging look and asked, “Why else is it bad?”

Cas picked up the spoon, tossed it into the sink and got out another one. “Angel grace is deadly to demons. Asmodeus shouldn’t have survived the first injection, much less as much as he’s obviously been taking. ”

Sam hadn’t thought about that, but, in hindsight, it was obvious. “Then why hasn’t it killed him?”

Gabriel edged a bit closer again, and this time Sam didn’t think, just reached out a hand to Gabriel’s shoulder. The archangel didn’t jerk back, and Sam left his hand where it was. If Gabriel could tolerate even this much contact, he was making excellent progress.

Cas was shaking his head, but his eyes flicked to Gabriel, and Sam knew he’d noted his brother’s action and reaction. All he said, though was, “I don’t know. He might be more than a demon now.”

“Well, he is a Prince of Hell. Maybe that makes him strong enough to tolerate angel grace.”

“Perhaps.” Cas’ tone didn’t sound convinced. He poured hot chocolate into a mug. “Gabriel, may I have your mug?”

Gabriel clutched it even closer. Sam gently squeezed his shoulder with one hand and reached out with his other. “It’s okay. He just wants to give you more chocolate. Do you want more?”

The archangel seemed to consider for a moment and then slowly handed Sam his mug. Sam gave it to Castiel, who filled it and handed it back. As soon as Gabriel had his full mug, he held it close again. Sam noted that his expression, which had been calming earlier, was back to being pinched and strained. Obviously, the discussion was upsetting him.

Cas brought his own mug over and cocked an eyebrow at Sam, who shook his head—three was enough for him. Cas nodded and sat down opposite Gabriel, who curled in on himself and closed his eyes.

“You’ve said where he was, Sam, but not how he got here.”

This was the part he’d been dreading, but there was no avoiding it.

“Apparently Ketch saved him and brought him here.”

Cas glanced around, as if expecting the treacherous Man of Letters to appear in the kitchen. “Ketch is here? And where is Dean? I’d have thought he’d be the one making hot chocolate.”

Sam took a deep breath. “Dean isn’t here. We opened the Rift. He and Ketch crossed over to find Mom and Jack.”

The scent of ozone filled the kitchen. Gabriel took several swallows of hot chocolate. Sam sat very still, recognizing Cas in “about to smite” mode.

“You let Dean go through the Rift with Ketch?”

“It wasn’t really a matter of ‘letting’ him. I was ready to go, but Dean made a good point, as much as I hated it.”

“And this good point was?” Cas’ eyes were starting to glow.

“That the only way to make the Rift go where you want is to send something that’s already been there. That means me or Dean. It only stays open for 24 hours. If they don’t come back in that time, I need to open it and go in after them. If we’d both gone through, we’d have had no safety net.”

The glow in Cas’ eyes subsided, and the scent of ozone faded. Sam managed to not take a deep breath in relief.

“But still,” the angel continued. “Ketch?”

“Was it better to send him through alone?” Sam motioned to Gabriel. “He was in no shape to go through.”

Cas’ expression darkened again. “You needed archangel grace for the spell. You took it from him, weak as he is.”

Sam shook his head. “No, we didn’t drain him. I wouldn’t have, not even for Mom and Jack. Ketch brought three vials of grace that Asmodeus had already drawn. We only used one, so we don’t need to drain him to open the Rift a second time.”

Cas took a long swallow of hot chocolate. “I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I, but there weren’t many options.”

“Dean could have waited for me to return. I would have gone with him.”

“Dean was in no mood to wait.” Sam paused.

“What?” Cas asked.

Mentally, Sam threw up his hands and said it. “Dean is looking for something. Getting you back was a big win for him, but…well…it’s not enough just having you back.”

Gabriel’s shoulder tightened under Sam’s hand, and he had the impression the archangel was listening closely now.

“What do you mean?”

“Cas, Dean hasn’t been the same since you guys broke up.” Damn. That sounded way too much like they were in a high school AU fanfiction, but it was still true.

Cas considered that for a moment. “I hear you, Sam, but now isn’t the time to discuss this.”

Sam nodded in agreement. “What we can do now is attend to Gabriel. He hasn’t spoken since Ketch brought him here. I was wondering if you had a sort of angel way of talking to him?”

Cas reached out a hand. “Brother, I am going to touch you and heal you. Is that all right?”

No reaction.

Cas raised a questioning eyebrow at Sam, who shrugged. “I’ve been using no reaction as a yes. Seems to be working so far.”

Cas nodded and touched Gabriel on the arm. The archangel clutched his mug more tightly but didn’t move. A soft blue glow spread over Cas’ hand and Gabriel’s arm, and Sam watched the injuries heal. Even after Gabriel was healed, Cas maintained the contact for several minutes before shaking his head and sitting back in his chair.

“Well?” Sam asked.

“His grace is dangerously low. There’s not much angel in the vessel at all, and what little is there is desperately trying to hold onto what remains of the vessel’s original self.”

Sam raised an eyebrow. “You mean Gabriel’s vessel is still inhabited by its original person? He’s not like you, where Jimmy is dead?”

“No, he’s still in there, but the experiences they suffered have left him damaged, possibly insane. It’s about all Gabriel can do right now to keep him stable and quiet.”

“What happens if he can’t keep him quiet?”

“It’s possible, though unlikely, that he could throw Gabriel out of his vessel. It could never happen if my brother were at full strength, but as weak as he is now?” Cas shrugged, not needing to say more.

Sam was chilled. Who knew what could happen if Gabriel weren’t in his vessel? The grim look on Cas’ face implied dire consequences.

“What can we do?”

Cas regarded his brother for a long moment. Gabriel hadn’t visibly reacted to the conversation. “I’m not sure there’s much we can do. I healed the vessel’s injuries, which will free up my brother to use more of his grace to recharge himself, but there’s nothing I can do for the original vessel. Mind healing isn’t one of my abilities.”

“Can Gabriel do something for him once he’s recovered?”

“I’m not certain. Possibly. Archangel vessels are, by their nature, more resilient than other humans.” Cas gave Sam a wry look. “As you know rather well.”

Sam averted his gaze at the reminder that he was still technically Lucifer’s vessel, something he didn’t like to remember, especially since Lucifer was loose again.

“It’s possible that Gabriel can either heal his mind or put him so deeply to sleep that he doesn’t experience anything, but only time will tell. Oh, and there’s one more thing I saw in his mind.”

“What?”

“Why he won’t talk. Let’s just say that Asmodeus taught that lesson quite well. He did more to punish my brother than sew up his lips.”

Sam remembered some of the more vicious wounds he’d seen on Gabriel’s body and suppressed a shudder. He wasn’t sure he would be able to talk either. He had a thought. “Hey, he’s obviously not been dead for a while now, at least as long as Asmodeus has had him. How come you didn’t know he was alive? Can’t you, like, sense other angels or something?”

Cas rolled his eyes, something he had definitely learned from Dean. “Yes, I can sense the presence of angels, but only when I am near them. I don’t have angel radar that covers the entire world.”

Sam winced at Cas’ sharp tone. However, it made sense. Angels could do a lot, but they weren’t all knowing.

He noticed that Cas looked like he was thinking hard. “What?”

“Now that you mention it, I just realized that I couldn’t feel Gabriel until I was in the same room with him.”

“Low grace?”

Cas shook his head. “Even with his grace as low as it is, I should have been able to sense him when I entered the Bunker.”

“So he’s figured out a way to conceal himself?”

“Apparently.” Cas sounded uncertain.

“Archangel thing?” Sam asked.

“I don’t think so,” Cas answered. “But as I am obviously not an archangel, I can not assume I know everything they are capable of.” He brightened. “That might be correct. I wasn’t able to sense his nature when you and Dean encountered him as the Trickster in the television world.”

“Okay. So he can conceal himself in some way. We can hope that will keep him hidden from Asmodeus, at least for a little while. Is there anything else we can do for him right now?” He glanced at his watch. “We still have nearly twenty hours before the Rift closes.”

Cas gave both Sam and Gabriel long looks. “You both need sleep. When my grace was low, I needed sleep, and I don’t think my brother has slept in a very long time. You also look tired, Sam.”

Sam surprised himself with a sudden yawn, and he tried to remember how long it had been since he’d slept. When he couldn’t remember for certain, he decided Castiel had a point. “All right. I’ll get some shut eye, but what about him?” He motioned to Gabriel.

“If we can get him to a bed, I can help him sleep. With his grace as low as it is, I can make him sleep almost as easily as I can a human.”

Sam gently squeezed Gabriel’s shoulder. “How about that? Do you want to get some sleep? It might make you feel better.”

Gabriel drank down the last of his hot chocolate and put aside his mug.

Taking that as an affirmative, Sam helped the archangel to his feet, and he and Cas supported him down the hallway to the bedroom next to Sam’s, which was empty. Sam and Dean preferred to have a bit of distance to themselves when they were in the Bunker. Close quarters on the road were one thing, but they preferred the option of a bit of privacy when at home.

They settled Gabriel on the bed. He curled up on his left side, in a tight ball facing the door. Cas reached out a gentle hand to his brother’s forehead, and Gabriel’s tense body relaxed into sleep. Even unconscious, though, he didn’t lose the strain in his face.

“I don’t know how long that will hold him, but something is better than nothing.”

Sam yawned again, and Cas added, “I’ll watch the Rift while you sleep.”

“Thanks, man,” Sam said as he stumbled to his room. Throwing himself on his bed without even undressing, he had just enough time before sleep drew him into darkness to wonder if archangels had nightmares.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Dean and Ketch both emerged into Apocalypse World, ready for whatever the strange place might throw at them. Ketch was dressed in Kevlar body armor and sported a variety of weapons. Dean was in his usual Hunter plaid, his Colt 1911 at the ready.

When nothing attacked them immediately, they both took a moment to examine their surroundings. The same blasted land that Dean remembered from his time here surrounded them. The quality of light reminded him of Purgatory, and he briefly wished for the reassuring presence of Benny.

“Charming place,” Ketch said. “I can’t imagine why it isn’t in all the tour guides.”

Dean grunted and continued to survey the land around him. Anything could be hiding behind the tall pillars, but still, nothing attacked them. He wasn’t entirely sure that was a good thing. Even an enemy could give them an idea of where to go.

“So what’s the play?” Ketch asked, obviously having had similar thoughts.

“There are a few pockets of rebel humans here. I was thinking we’d try to find one of them. They might be able to give us some clue of where to look for Mom and Jack.”

“Rebel humans?” Ketch said, his tone doubtful. “And where would we find them?”

“Near water would be my guess.” He pointed in the distance, where he could just make out a line of trees. “Like over there. Where there are trees, there will be water.”

“An apt deduction. And what opposition should we expect?”

Dean started walking in the direction of the trees. “Keep your eyes open for incoming angels.” He glanced back in time to see Ketch produce an angel blade with nearly the grace of an angel.

“So good thing I brought one of these,” Ketch said, his tone smug.

Dean patted his own blade, sheathed on his hip. “Yep.” He slowed his pace a bit, letting Ketch get ahead of him. This place was reminding him too much of Purgatory, and this time he didn’t have the reassuring presence of Benny. Or Cas. As usual, the thought of the angel evoked a confusion of emotions within him: affection, anger and exasperation seasoned with a dash of desire. He’d lost track of the number of times he’d resolved to discuss things with Cas, but the right time never seemed to come. If only they could get even a short break from saving the world.  But that wasn’t the Winchester way.

The two men settled into an easy pace, fast enough to cover ground but not so fast as to exhaust them. Dean was irritated by how competent Ketch was. If only the Man of Letters weren’t such a smarmy bastard, he’d make a decent Hunter.

“How do you think Sam is getting along with the archangel?” Ketch asked after they’d been walking for about an hour. They were maybe halfway to the forest, and Dean could see that it was quite large. Searching the entire thing for rebels would take longer than they had.

Dean realized he hadn’t given a single thought to Gabriel since they’d crossed the Rift. He’d left that to Sam and shifted his focus to his own task. “Probably fine. I’m sure he’ll call Cas. Between the two of them, they should be able to put him back together.” He smiled a bit at the thought that Cas would be delighted to discover that his elder brother was still alive.

“Didn’t he used to masquerade as a Trickster?” Ketch was asking.

Dean wished the other man would shut up, but that didn’t seem likely. If they had to talk, Gabriel was a fairly safe topic. “Yeah. He was going around as Loki. Apparently had a thing with Kali.” And wasn’t that enough to make a man shudder?

“Delightful.” Ketch’s tone said the exact opposite.

“Look, can we save the story telling for when we’ve got a campfire? We’re not friends. We’re not going to be friends.”

Ketch didn’t seem perturbed at Dean’s attitude. “I was merely attempting to get a sense of what we are up against and what we have at our disposal.”

Just then, Ketch was walking by one of the pillars that still dotted the landscape. Dean moved, grabbing the Man of Letter and slamming him against the pillar, arm across the man’s neck. “There is no ‘we’ here. You got that?”

Ketch was surprisingly unruffled for someone who was being choked. He motioned to his neck. Dean let up a bit on the pressure.

“Yes, I have that. However, at the moment we are stuck together in a place appropriately named ‘Apocalypse World.’ Making some sort of plan did seem to be in order.” He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. “Oh, wait. That’s right. I’ve seen the disastrous excuse for a ‘Winchester plan’ in the past, and I’d prefer to avoid that degree of randomness here.”

Dean desperately wanted to choke the life out of the man, but something held him back. Ketch was competent. He might need the man, however little he liked to admit it, even to himself. He let up the pressure and stepped back. “All right. You’ve got a point. Not on the ‘Winchester plan’ part but on the point that you do increase my chance of success.”

Ketch stepped away from the pillar, rubbing his neck. “Then what is the plan?”

Dean shrugged. “Find the rebels. Ask about Mom. Save her and the kid. What more of a plan do you want?”

Only Ketch’s British upbringing stopped the eye roll. “Please refer back to ‘Winchester plan.’”

Dean was honestly confused. “Until we find the rebels and figure out what they know, there’s not much else we can do. We ask them where to find Mom and Jack, see what they know about opposition and then make a plan based on what we learn.”

Sighing, Ketch said, “I must have been infected by your madness because that makes a surprising amount of sense.”

Dean waved him on. “Then let’s get going. Time’s a’wasting.”

The two of them moved on in the direction of the forest, which was looming and starting to look decidedly threatening.


	4. Chapter 4

Turned out that archangels do suffer from nightmares.

Sam was jolted awake by the shaking of the Bunker, accompanied by the most anguished scream he had ever heard. His body was moving before he was even awake, and he was in Gabriel’s room before he was even aware of it. He’d moved so quickly that he’d beaten Castiel.

Gabriel lay in the middle of the bed, still curled in the same tight ball he’d been in before. Sam wasn’t sure how he managed to scream so loudly without sufficient lung expansion. That’s when he realized the screaming was in his mind.

Cas skidded into the room. “Can you hear it too?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah. How is that possible?”

“We’ll figure that out later. For now, how do we stop him?”

Winchesters had intimate familiarity with nightmares, and, with living in such close quarters for so long, extensive practice in waking up someone in the middle of night horrors. Sam had learned the hard way not to touch the sleeper. The safest way to wake Dean was by yelling his name from all the way across the room. However, he wasn’t sure that would work with Gabriel.

Cas was giving him a _do something_ look, and Sam sighed. He’d make it up as he went along. Kind of like how he always did. Or more like how Dean always did.

Gabriel wasn’t thrashing around, so sitting on the bed seemed safe enough for the moment. Sam moved to the bed and sat down, careful to jostle the mattress as little as possible. “Gabriel,” he tried.

No reaction. The screaming in his head didn’t change even slightly. By now it was starting to give him one hell of a headache, so he’d better move faster, while he still could.

“Gabriel? Buddy. It’s me. Sam. And Cas is here too. You’re safe with us in the Bunker.”

No reaction.

“That doesn’t seem to be working, Sam.”

“I’m open to ideas here, Cas!”

“Try shaking him?”

Sam turned to give the angel a sharp look. “The last time I touched Dean in the middle of a nightmare, he damn near broke my jaw. Gabriel will probably throw me through the wall. You touch him!”

Cas shook his head and moved to sit on the other side of the bed. He reached out a tentative hand, but pulled back when Gabriel started to uncurl. “I don’t think I can. But something tells me you can.”

Sam gave him an unbelieving look. “You’re basing that on what, exactly?”

“I’m not sure. Instinct, perhaps?”

With a muttered, “I didn’t know angels had those,” Sam reached out a careful hand, gently touching Gabriel on his shoulder. He fully expected to provoke a reaction, probably an extreme one. When Gabriel didn’t throw him across the room, however, he hesitantly squeezed the tense shoulder. “Gabriel? Buddy?”

This time, the scream in his head subsided a bit.

Encouraged, Sam tried a small shake. Again, no violent reaction, but the screaming went down another notch. “Gabriel. It’s Sam. You’re in the Bunker. You’re safe, man. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”

The screaming stopped, and the silence in his head was startling.

Gabriel’s eyes opened, and Sam realized he’d never paid attention to their golden color before. He was so used to Cas’ blue that he’d sort of assumed all angels had blue eyes. Which was ridiculous. All angel vessels couldn’t have blue eyes.

“Gabriel?” Sam said when he found his voice again.

The archangel shook his head.

“What?” Sam asked. “You’re not Gabriel?” If that was the case, things were going to get really weird.

He shook his head again and opened his mouth. It took two tries but a hoarse whisper finally emerged. “Gabe. You call my brother Cas. Call me Gabe.”

And with that, he closed his eyes and apparently dropped back into sleep.

Sam met Cas’ eyes over Gabriel’s—no, Gabe’s—still form.

“Well at least he spoke,” said Cas, ever the practical one.

Sam just shook his head, ran his hand down Gabe’s shoulder and stood up. “I need some coffee. I’m not going back to sleep for a while after that.”


	5. Chapter 5

Dean and Ketch entered the forest. The Hunter didn't like the feel of it at all. He couldn't put a finger on it, but something about it felt off.

Apparently Ketch felt the same way because as soon as they walked past the first few trees, he stopped and looked around. "This feel weird to you?"

Dean nodded. "Definitely. Reminds me of Purgatory, and that place was just bad news."

"You've been to Purgatory?" Ketch asked.

"Yeah. What? That wasn't in your file on me?"

"Apparently we missed that."

Dean snorted and loosened the angel blade in its sheathe. "Feels like we might have angels dropping out of the sky any minute."

Ketch adjusted his rifle, which reminded Dean that they had made this trip without any angel killing bullets. That was a serious oversight, and he hoped Sam would plan better if he needed to come through to help them. He pushed back the idea that Sam might need to save them. Not a chance of that happening.

"You know that normal bullets won't actually work on angels, right?" Dean said to Ketch in an attempt to redirect his thoughts.

"No, but angels in vessels do have to obey at least some of the laws of physics, and a stream of bullets will slow them down for a few seconds."

Dean nodded, seeing where the other man was going with that. "And sometimes a few seconds is all you need."

"Exactly."

They continued on through the forest, Dean reluctantly deciding that Ketch might be a better ally than he'd give him credit for. As long as he didn't pull one of his "sudden but inevitable betrayals."

About an hour into the forest, Ketch, who was leading, suddenly stopped and dropped to one knee. Dean went on high alert, Colt raised.

"What did you find" Dean asked.

"Tracks," Ketch answered. "Boots. Maybe three or four people, probably male from the size of the prints."

Dean wondered if there were any way to tell if they were angel or human. In this world, both species wore combat-style boots. "Anything else you can tell about them?"

Ketch was in a half-crouch, moving along slowly, examining the ground as he went. Dean wanted to ask him what he was looking at, but he restrained himself. It was a good way to test the other man's skills. If he missed something, Dean could always take his own look.

Ketch stood up and made a satisfied sound. "I think they are human. One of them is dragging a leg, as if he's been wounded. Angels wouldn't limp, I'm guessing."

Dean stepped forward to take a look. "Keep an eye out."

Ketch moved to cover Dean while the Hunter knelt to examine the tracks. A moment later, Dean stood up and nodded. "I agree. And it looks like he's moving under his own power, so I don't think it's angels escorting a prisoner."

"I concur," Ketch agreed. "Should we follow these and see where they lead us?"

Dean nodded. "It's the first actual lead we have. Let's go with it."

The two men, Ketch still leading, headed deeper into the woods, following the trail.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam padded barefoot into the kitchen to make some coffee. Cas followed.

"You want some, Cas?"

The angel shook his head. "No, thank you."

Sam loaded the coffee maker with beans and got some milk out of the fridge while he waited for the coffee to brew.

"May I ask you something, Sam?"

He turned to face the angel, who had seated himself at the table and was idly playing with Gabriel's discarded mug. "Sure."

"Why are you helping my brother?"

That was a question Sam hadn't had time to ask himself, although he'd known on some level that he was going to need to. He stalled for time to think. "Why wouldn't I help him?"

Cas raised an eyebrow at him. "He killed your brother 107 times. He turned you into car."

"And he crushed my balls." Sam couldn't stop the involuntary crossing of his legs brought on by that memory. "Yeah, I know all that."

"You should hate him. Wouldn't it make sense for you to be happy that Asmodeus was torturing him?"

Sam shook his head and poured his coffee. He added milk and sugar and went to sit across from Cas. "No way. I'm never going to be happy about someone being tortured." He paused for a moment and then added, "Well, I guess I wouldn't lose any sleep over Lucifer or Asmodeus being tortured, but I still wouldn't actively wish it on them."

Cas nodded. "All right. That is in line with what I have learned about your character. But still, you could have refused Gabriel sanctuary. Or been more impersonal in caring for him."

Sam had to consider what Cas had said. The angel had a point. He wasn't known for helping people who hurt his brother, and Gabriel had hurt his brother and him about as badly as anyone had. He still had nightmares about the months he had hunted alone after Gabriel had killed Dean.

And yet.

He tried to put some of his thoughts into words. "I don't know, Cas. I don't know if any of this is going to make sense, but you're right. I can't just ignore it." He paused to take several swallows of coffee. Then he got up, topped off his cup and went to the cupboard where Dean kept his liquor. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey and added a healthy dollop to his coffee. He thought he'd need the fortification to get through this conversation.

When he got back to the table, Cas was still waiting patiently, hands folded on the table.

"Okay, I haven't tried to put all this in words yet, but here goes. Yes, I hated him for years. I wanted to kill him, and I would have killed him if he'd shown up, especially during the time Dean was in Hell. I wasn't completely sane then, and I recognize that now.

"I was ready to use him to avoid saying yes to Lucifer, when I thought he was still a Trickster. I had no idea we were really dealing with an archangel, but as soon as I knew what he was, I was ready to forgive almost anything if he'd help against Lucifer."

He drank some more coffee. While he was more introspective than his brother, he didn't go out of his way to think too deeply about those times.

Cas got up and walked to the counter to pour his own cup of coffee. Sam raised an eyebrow at him. Cas shrugged and said, "It seemed like a good idea." The angel then proceeded to add enough sugar to prove he was related to Gabriel.

Sam waited for him to finish and sit back down. "Then he did finally stand up to Lucifer, and, as far as we knew, he got killed for it. But in the end, he gave us what we needed to stuff Lucifer back into the cage.

"In the end, he was right. Dean and I were too dependent on each other. I've slowly come to realize that. Gabe tried to show me that years ago, and while he was pretty blunt about it, I think he knew that I wouldn't have listened to anything less. I've thought about that some over the last few years, and one day, I finally got it. It's not healthy how wrapped up Dean and I are with each other, and we need to do something about that."

Understanding sparked in Cas' blue eyes. "That's one of the reasons you were glad Dean and I got together. I gave Dean someone else to focus on."

Sam nodded. "Yeah. Plus you make my brother very happy, when he's not being too stubborn to admit it."

Cas drank coffee and considered for a moment. Sam gave him time. Finally, the angel said, "When Dean comes back, I will make time to talk to him. If you can forgive my brother, perhaps it's time for me to forgive Dean taking on the Mark of Cain."

Sam smiled and reached out to grip Cas' forearm. "That would be great, man, if you could do that."

"I will try." He tilted his head at Sam. "Is that the only reason? Gratitude that Gabriel pointed something out? I would think you could be grateful for the lesson and still angry at the messenger."

Sam snorted out a laugh at that. "True that. No, that's not all of it. I've been doing a lot of thinking these last couple of years. I'm hoping there might be an end game to 'Winchesters needing to save the world,' and I've been wondering who I might like to be assuming that ever happens. But to figure out who you want to be, you kind of have to look at who you have been. And, Cas, I have done some pretty shitty things over the years."

"Sam! It's not like you've always had a choice," Cas protested.

Sam shook his head firmly, turning his cup in a circle. "No, that's where you're wrong, Cas. We always have a choice. We could have said yes to Lucifer and Michael and not played into Lilith's hands. I didn't have to kill Death. Dean didn't have to take the Mark of Cain. We always have choices, and one of the defining characteristics of Winchesters seems to be making bad choices." He shrugged. "You're an adopted Winchester. Gabriel is your brother. Maybe we need to accept that he's an adopted Winchester as well and forgive him some of his bad choices."

Now it was Castiel's turn to snort in laughter. "I'm not sure he'd characterize killing Dean over and over again as a 'bad choice."

Sam laughed with him. "Maybe you're right." Then he played back something Cas had said earlier. "Hey, wait a minute. How did you know exactly how many times Gabriel killed Dean?"

"I watched them all, Sam."

Sam almost spit out the coffee he'd just drank. "All of them?"

"Yes. It was my duty to watch all significant events occurring to the Righteous Man. Dying certainly counted."

Cas was so matter-of-fact about it that Sam wasn't sure how to react. Finally, he managed. "And it didn't occur to you to--I don't know--step in and stop it?"

Cas gave him his customary head tilt. "Why would I have done that?"

For a moment, Sam couldn't do anything except splutter helplessly. The angel looked concerned and started to stand up. Sam got his mouth under control and managed to say, "Because it would have been the right thing to do?"

Cas suddenly nodded in understanding. "It is what I would do now, yes, but remember Sam, at that time I was still a devout and obedient servant of God. My Father decreed that we watch but not interfere. I had not yet met the man who would teach me about Free Will."

Sam sat back in his chair and considered for a moment. Then he said, "I guess that makes sense. You've been a member of Team Free Will long enough that it's easy to forget you used to be so different."

"Now, I do regret standing by and doing nothing, but I was not capable of doing anything else at the time." Cas did look truly regretful.

Sam reached out and clapped him on the shoulder. "I know you do, man. You've come a long way since those days." He paused and then added. "But it might be best that you not mention that to Dean."

The angel shook his head. "No. I don't intend to tell Dean about that. Unless he asks."

"Which I doubt he will if we don't give him a reason to." Suddenly, Sam yawned, which was unfortunate. He was tired but also wired. He probably shouldn't have had that coffee.

"You still have several hours to sleep, if you'd like," Cas said.

Sam shook his head. "Yeah, doubt that's happening any time soon. Coffee plus this conversation aren't the best ways to wind down."

"I can assist you."

Sam blinked. Well, of course he could. "Thanks, Cas. I think I'll take you up on that." He got up, rinsed out his mug and started down the hallway to his room.

"Sam," Cas said, an odd tone in his voice.

Sam turned. "Yeah?"

"I think it would be best if you slept with my brother."

Sam swallowed hard, not quite sure how to respond to that.

Almost immediately, Cas shook his head and looked abashed. "That did not come out the way I had intended. I meant that I think it would be good for my brother if you slept in the same bed with him."

Well, that was a relief. Not that Gabriel wasn't attractive in his own way, but Sam wasn't sure he wanted to go there, and having sex with someone who had been through what the archangel had experienced was many kinds of wrong.

But where was Cas going with this? "Okay. You've got a reason for it. And thank you by the way for startling me like that. So what are you thinking?"

Cas looked for a moment like he wasn't sure how to answer that, but eventually he said, "It's sort of the same as the instinct that told me you could touch him. I think he is less likely to have nightmares, or at least not as intense ones, if you are with him."

Sam shrugged. At this point he guessed it didn't matter that much where he slept, and if it could help Gabriel, then why not? "All right," he said. "I'll sleep there."

He walked down the hall to Gabriel's room. The archangel was still curled in the middle of the bed, facing the door. Between them, Sam and Cas got him moved far enough to give the tall Hunter enough room to lie down.

Sam lay between Gabriel and the door. "Okay, Cas. Do your thing."

Cas reached to his forehead, and the next instant Sam was asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

A few hundred yards down the trail, Dean pulled up short. Ketch continued for a few more steps before realizing the Hunter had stopped.

"What's wrong?" Ketch asked.

Something was niggling at Dean's instincts, but it took him a minute to figure it out. Finally, he said, "Something about this strike you as--I don't know--off?"

Ketch went still in thought for a moment before saying, "It's too easy."

Dean snapped his fingers. "That's it. These rebels have been hunted by angels for a long time..."

"And yet they leave such a plain trail," Ketch finished.

"Yeah. I'm thinking we're being led into a trap."

Ketch shook his head. "Not us. This is a trap for angels." He frowned. "But wouldn't the angels see through it?"

"Nah," Dean said dismissively. "You haven't known angels as long as we have. Cas, Gabriel, and a few others we've known aren't like other angels. They've been around humans long enough to figure out we aren't completely stupid. Even Lucifer knows that. He hates it, but he knows it. These angels, though? They've been on top for a long time. Maybe some of them have figured out that humans are more than just talking monkeys, but I bet a bunch of them are still clueless." He looked down again at the tracks. "And these rebels are hoping to trap a bunch of them."

"It still tells us that we are on the right track," Ketch said.

"Sure does, but we're going to parallel the trail. See what happens."

Ketch shot Dean a wry look. "Well, apparently you can develop tactics that go beyond bull rushing into a situation."

Dean shot back a grin and a raised middle finger.

Both men moved off the trail. Ketch was better at moving silently through the woods, and he would periodically travel closer to the trail, to make sure they were heading in the right direction. He needed to correct their course once or twice, but they never lost it.

After about an hour and perhaps half a mile of cautious progress, it was Ketch's turn to stop, raising a hand to signal Dean.

Dean froze.

"Listen," Ketch whispered.

Dean had already heard it. Booted feet on the trail, perhaps 200 yards behind them.

"Angels or humans, do you think?” Ketch spoke so quietly that Dean had to lean in to hear it.

"I'm betting angels," Dean answered.

"Agreed." Ketch said, slipping off to check. Dean waited for several anxious minutes until the man returned.

"Angels. Four of them," Ketch said.

"Do they look like they are falling for the trap?"

"I believe so."

Dean nodded. "Then let's follow and see what happens."

With Ketch leading the way, the two men paralleled the trail, keeping far enough to the side that they were unlikely to be discovered. It didn't take long for them to learn their theory of the trail being a trap was correct.

They had been pacing the angels for less than ten minutes when the attack happened.

The rebels acted quickly, in concert and with precision. Two of the angels were down in seconds. The remaining two backed away, obviously trying to get some room to maneuver.

Dean hated to admit it, but he was enjoying the sight of angels going down hard. Then something happened to change that.

The taller of the two remaining angels, who appeared to be in charge yelled, "Castiel! Retreat! Bring word to Michael!"

Two rebels opened fire and brought down the leader angel. Two others were coming up behind the remaining angel.

Dean was in motion before he had a chance to think about what he was doing.

"Dean, no!" Ketch said in a loud stage whisper, but it was too late.

The elder Winchester was already in motion, apparently hell-bent on saving the remaining angel.


	8. Chapter 8

Soft whimpering woke Sam up. He opened his eyes. Gabriel was still curled on his side. To Sam's relief, he wasn't screaming this time. The quiet sounds were actually audible, not just in his head, which he thought was an improvement. Maybe Cas had been right.

He reached out and gently shook the sleeping archangel. As before, Gabriel didn't react with violence. He just opened his eyes and looked at Sam. If he was surprised at having company in bed, he didn't show it.

"Hey," Sam said. "It was just a nightmare. You're still safe."

No reaction.

Sam had no idea what time it was, but he sensed that he hadn't slept long after Cas put him under. However, looking at Gabriel, his brain kicked into gear, and stuff he hadn't wanted to think about started flowing. Sighing, he rolled onto his back and put his hands under his head.

"Do you mind if I talk about something? I don't expect you to do anything except listen, but I think you'll understand what I'm feeling, and you might be one of the only people who would. I can't talk about this with Dean, but I need to get it out before it festers any further."

He glanced over at Gabriel, who gave him a little, one-shouldered shrug. Relief flooded through him, both at the permission and the communication.

Sam moved his head to look back at the ceiling. While he needed to say this, he didn't think he could actually look at anyone while he was talking.

"So I guess you know that I ended up in the Cage with Michael and Lucifer? You know how when you were standing in that ring of holy fire and said you didn't want to watch your brothers try to kill each other? Well, that's pretty much what I lived with for I don't know how many Hell years."

He turned briefly to look at Gabriel, whose eyes were open and appeared to be listening. "I don't want you to think I'm blaming or dumping anything on you, okay? This is all about me getting out some stuff that I've been sitting on too long."

He remembered almost opening up to Rowena about this, but when it came down to it, even though he knew she'd understand, she wasn't the right person to talk to. Sam didn't think too much about why Gabriel was different.

"So, anyway, that thing leaves scars. Cas dragged me out of Hell. Death put a wall around the memories and eventually Cas took all the crazy on himself. I'll always love your brother for that, but he didn't take the actual memories. I still remember everything. And I dream about it all the time. Hardly a week goes by without some dream. The heat. The stink of fear. And the pain. Always the pain.

"Michael wasn't so bad. Yeah, he was pissed at being trapped in the Cage, but he took most of it out on Adam, our half-brother who said yes to him, and, of course, he raged at Lucifer all the time. If only they could have just killed each other."

Another glance at Gabriel. "Sorry, Gabe. I know I'm talking about your family here, but they were Hell to live with." Eyes back to the ceiling.

"I was the one Lucifer took it out on. He'd get pissed at Michael; they'd have it out for a while, and then Lucifer would come to me. He did just about everything to me. I thought, as a Hunter, that I'd seen just about every horror there was, but Lucifer showed me stuff I don't ever want to talk about."

He felt tears start down his cheeks, but he couldn't stop now. It was like he was lancing some deep-seated wounds, and he needed to see this through.

A hand touched his shoulder, not demanding anything. Just being there.

Sam took in a deep breath and tried to control his tears so he could continue. "You know what the worst thing about it was? It wasn't the endless abuse, although, yeah, that was bad. It was that I didn't mean anything to him. Here I was. His vessel. His ultimate vessel. He spent so much time trying to seduce me and get me to say 'yes,' but in the end, I wasn't anything to him. I was just an object to take his frustrations out on. He took everything away from me, and he didn't care."

The hand gripped and squeezed. Sam appreciated it, but he couldn't look at Gabriel right then. He wasn't sure he'd be able to look at anyone else ever again.

Words continued to pour out of him. "It got to the point where I wanted him to just see me. To acknowledge that I was more than just a thing to him, but he never did. Michael was real to him. He hated him, but he acknowledged that he was something. Me? I was nothing.

"Sometimes it seems like that's the story of my life. Pulled here and there like an object. Dad dragging me along on his quest to avenge Mom. Then Dean dragging me along on his quest for Dad. We love each other, but sometimes I think we forget that we are brothers. We play our roles. Save the world. Unleash Hell on Earth. Save the world again.

"Your Dad puts the whole damn world in our hands and then up and leaves us to clean up his messes. Seriously? When do I get to just be Sam? When do I get to do what I want instead of trudging along doing what everyone else wants me to do?"

Sam stopped, so tired that he didn't know if he could go on. The hand still gripped his shoulder, and he held on to that contact like it was a lifeline. In that moment, he almost felt like he was real to someone.

A gentle finger touched his chin and encouraged him to turn to face Gabriel, who was looking at him. Sam saw so many things in his eyes. Understanding. Pain. Sympathy. Regret. And so much more that Sam couldn't even describe. He took another deep breath. "Cas asked me earlier why I was helping you. He assumed that I would hate you for the things you've done to me."

He saw even more pain enter Gabriel's eyes, and he hastened to add, "But I don't. Really. That's what I told Cas. It took me years, but I finally figured out what you'd been trying to tell me ten years ago. Dean and I don't always have the healthiest of relationships. We are too tied up in each other. But it's more than that. You were trying to tell me that I needed to be Sam. That I needed to figure out who Sam was. More importantly, who I wanted to be. Your brother took my self away from me. My Dad did the same thing. And, as much as I hate to admit it, in some ways, Dean has been doing it too."

He'd been over this ground before in his head, but it was different to say it loud to someone. And as he spoke, he saw something he'd never been able to see before. "It was more than that, wasn't it? No one can take yourself away from you unless you let them. So I was responsible too. I was so wrapped up in everyone else that I was taking me away from me too, wasn't I?

Gabriel didn't say anything, but Sam saw the truth in his eyes.

"So what do I do now?" No answer from the archangel, but if Sam was being honest with himself, he didn't need one. He knew the answer. "I need to figure out who I want to be. I need to let myself be me."

He sighed. "But here's the crazy thing. As much as sometimes I think I don't want the Hunter life, most of the time I love it. I love helping people. I love the adrenaline rush. Playing FBI agent with Dean. Ganking some mean sons of bitches. Dean used to call it the family business, and he's right. On some level, this is who I am."

Sam stopped. "Is it that simple, Gabe? Can I do everything I love and have it still be me? If I recognize that I'm making the choice here? That no one is forcing me to do this? I can be Sam and a Hunter at the same time? I used to think I wanted to go to college, get married and do all those normal things. But I've seen too much of what's in the world. I don't know if I could settle down and leave this life behind. More importantly, I'm not sure I even want to."

Now he found he could look at Gabriel, although he was careful not to look the archangel directly in the eyes. He'd noted that Gabriel didn't like eye contact, but that was okay. He could look at him without making direct eye contact. "I think it actually might be that simple." He took another deep breath, but for the first time in forever, he felt like he was breathing into clear lungs. That he was getting all the air into him rather than being so tense and choked up that he only got part of it.

"Wow." He reached up and covered Gabriel's hand with his own. "Thank you for listening. I knew I needed that, but I didn't know how much I needed it. And--" He paused, not sure what he was about to offer was appropriate or would be welcomed. Finally, though, he decided it needed to be said. "And if you need someone to listen, I'm here. I don't know if I have any answers, and I doubt one or even several conversations will give you what you need, but I'm here for you. I'll give you what I can. Okay?"

Gabriel met his eyes for the briefest of instants, and Sam recognized it for the answer it was.

Suddenly, he was aware of how tired he was. "I think I could sleep again. You?"

Gabriel removed his hand from Sam's shoulder. Oddly, he missed it as soon as it was gone, but there was no way he'd push anything on Gabriel. Not after everything he'd been through.

The archangel closed his eyes, but Sam noticed he wasn't curled in quite as tight a ball. Maybe listening had helped him too.

Sam sighed, closed his eyes, and drifted back to sleep. For the first time in a long time, he thought sleep might actually be healing.


	9. Chapter 9

Ketch followed Dean, wishing that he were able to just walk away from this. However, he was tired of being the bad guy, the betrayer, the one who walked away while everyone was dying. For once in his life, he wanted to do the right thing because it was the right thing.

Today that apparently meant dashing through the woods in an alternate universe to save a bull-headed Hunter who was so in love with his angel that he'd try to save an alternate universe version. Without having any idea if said alternate universe version was actually worth saving.

Why was he doing this again?

Dean dashed into the small clearing where the rebels had sprung their ambush. Firing rapidly, he dropped three rebels with as many bullets. Ketch was surprised to note that the man's aim was such that, without even appearing to take aim, he had incapacitated, but not killed, all of them.

Dean's display of exceptional marksmanship stopped everyone for several seconds, just long enough for Ketch to reach the clearing. The rebels had sorted themselves into roughly two groups. Ketch covered one with his assault rifle. Dean, without turning to look, covered the other half.

"Castiel" stared at the two men with the expression Ketch fancied people would get if they suddenly found themselves transported from their living room to the middle of a Philip K. Dick dystopian universe.

"Step away from the angel, and no one gets hurt," Ketch said in his crisp, precise British accent.

Dean glanced away from his group just long enough to give Ketch a disbelieving look. "Did you really just say that?"

Ketch swung his rifle to shoot one of Dean's group, who had unwisely decided to use the Hunter's momentary distraction to raise his rifle. Before Ketch's group had a chance to react, his rifle was back in position to cover them. "Keep your eyes on yours." He paused and then added. "I have always wanted to say something like that."

Dean snorted and went back to covering his group.

The angel glanced back and forth between the two men. "You are human?"

Dean, who was now wearing an expression which looked very much like _what exactly am I going to do now_? answered with, "Yeah, last I checked."

"And you just saved me?"

Ketch noticed his group getting restless, and he didn't think they had long before everything was going to go to Hell.

"Pretty much," Dean said. Ketch had the impression he was trying to figure out a next stage to his plan and was failing miserably.

It might have actually been the best outcome for all of them that a larger group of rebels emerged from the forest at that point and took them all, angel included, into custody.


	10. Chapter 10

When Sam woke, it took him a little while to figure out where he was. He was vaguely aware that he wasn't in his own bed. Something about it wasn't right. Then he realized he was curled around a warm body. Had he gotten laid last night? Was he at her place?

He opened his eyes, and memory came flooding back. The body he was cuddled up to was...Gabriel's? The angel was facing away from the door, back pressed against Sam, who, at some point in the night, had thrown an arm around the smaller Gabriel and was now holding him protectively close.

What the heck?

A gravel voice from behind him said, "If Dean were here, he'd take a picture of this for blackmail purposes."

Oh, yes. Cas had spent far too much time with the elder Winchester.

Sam carefully removed his arm from around Gabriel and stood up, doing his best to jostle the bed as little as possible. He walked to the door and pulled it closed but didn't latch it. He didn't want the still-sleeping figure to feel closed in.

"How much time, Cas?" he asked.

"A little under two hours. I was just coming to wake you, but you were already awake. Did you sleep well?"

If it had been Dean asking, there would have been a smirk hidden in the question, but since it was Cas, it was just a question. With the faintest hint of "is there something else you want to tell me?"

Sam stretched as he walked, feeling muscles that had been tense for years stretch and release. "Actually, I did. I...well...I sort of woke up in the middle of the night and talked through some stuff with your brother. Stuff I'd been meaning to get out for a while. It helped."

Cas nodded, looking pleased, as if he knew what Sam had talked through and was glad for it. "Did my brother say anything?"

"No. Speaking doesn't seem to be his thing right now. Or eye contact. I think it'll be a while before he recovers from what Asmodeus did to him."

They reached the kitchen, where Cas had fresh pancakes waiting. Sam smiled. "Hey, thanks. But you shouldn't have let me sleep so long. We still have a lot of preparations to make."

Cas gently nudged him toward a chair and said, "Most of it is done. I've got everything ready to open the Rift, and I've packed supplies. I think all you need to do is eat, shower and pack up your weapons."

The smile stayed on Sam's face while he dug into the pancakes. "Awesome. These are really good, Cas. I'll shower in a few minutes and we can make our final preparations."

"Thank you."

Sam ate in comfortable silence with Cas. They had known each other long enough now that they didn't need to talk. Sam liked being with the angel. For all he'd been through in the years the Winchesters had known him, Cas was still a steady, grounding presence, and Sam was glad to have him there.

When he finished his pancakes, he showered quickly, put on fresh clothes and met Cas in the library where everything was gathered for the trip through the Rift. Neither man nor angel believed that Dean or Ketch were coming back before the current door closed.

Sam was packing his backpack and checking that he had enough angel killing bullets when he suddenly realized they had planned for everything, except Gabriel.

He turned to Cas, who was loading a shotgun, his preferred Hunter weapon. "Cas. We can't just leave Gabriel here alone. I don't think Asmodeus can find him through the Bunker warding, but I don't want to take that chance."

Cas put aside his gun and considered for a moment. "Jody?"

Sam did some quick calculations, and nodded. "She won't be able to get here before we leave, but if I call her now, and she drives fast, he won't be alone more than five or six hours, I think. That's probably the best option."

"No need," came a voice, rough from disuse, from behind them.

Sam and Cas both whirled to see Gabriel standing--well more like leaning--in the doorway to the library.

"It's okay," Sam said. "We'd feel better if you had someone backing you up."

Gabriel shook his head, eyes mostly facing the floor, but the set of his jaw was firm. "No need because I'm coming with you."

Sam could hear the strain in his voice, as if he were struggling for each word. "But you're still--" Words went through his head: weak, damaged, broken. Finally he settled on "...recovering."

From the tightness in his mouth, Sam suspected Gabriel had guessed the words Sam had rejected.

"We couldn't ask you to come with us," Cas put in.

Gabriel gave a sad representation of his Trickster eye roll. "If you think I'm letting my baby brother go to Apocalypse World without me, you are mistaken."

"But Gabe," Sam said. "You're not a fighter. That's not your MO. I'm figuring Cas and I are going to have to fight our way to Dean and Mom. It's not your fight. It's not what you do."

The faintest scent of ozone drifted in the air. Gabriel lifted his eyes, glowing a faint blue, and met Sam's gaze for several seconds. A hint of wings spread behind him. "I'm an archangel. Maybe it's time everyone, including me, remembered that."

Then he dropped his gaze back to the floor, and the impression of wings faded. But the message had been plain.

Sam sighed and motioned to Cas. "Go grab Hunter clothes for yourself and your brother. Give him a pair of your jeans. They'll fit better than Dean's." He gave a wry grin to Gabriel. "If we're going to do this, I'm guessing you'd rather be dressed properly."

"I think I'll be more impressive if I'm not wearing Dean Winchester's pjs."

Sam snorted out a laugh.

Cas gave him a bemused look. "Clothes for my brother make sense, but why do you want me to change?" He glanced down at his customary trench coat, black slacks and cheap dress shirt.

Sam shook his head, as if he couldn't believe Cas was so clueless. "Cas, buddy, we're going to a world at war. We need to look like we belong, or we'll get ganked immediately. We don't have the gear to look like angels, so we need to look like humans. Over there, no one is dressed like an accountant. Hunter gear is close enough."

Cas thought about if for a moment before nodding. "That makes sense. I will go change and bring back clothing for my brother."

As he left, Gabriel lifted his gaze just long enough to share a look of amused fondness with Sam.

"Sit down before you fall down, Gabe. How much do you know about where we're going?"

Shrug.

"Okay," Sam said, interpreting that as "not too much." He filled the archangel in on Mary, Jack, the world beyond the Rift and Michael's plans to invade this world and take it for his own. Gabriel listened but offered little reaction.

As soon as Sam finished his terse explanation, Cas returned, having changed into a pair of his old jeans, a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon shirt Dean had bought him and one of Dean's jackets. He handed his brother a folded pair of jeans, black t-shirt and another jacket and Dean's second favorite pair of boots. Gabriel took them without a word and left the room to change.

"You filled him in?" Cas asked.

"Yeah."

"How did he take it?"

Shrugging, Sam said, "Hard to tell. Talking seems to be hard for him, so he didn't say anything. Think you can communicate with him angel to angel if needed?”

"That should be possible." He went back to packing his bag.

Sam sighed and finished with his own bag. He didn't like the idea of taking Gabriel along. Even at full strength, the youngest archangel was no match for Michael, and Gabriel was nowhere near full strength at the moment. On the other hand, denying him what he obviously wanted to do wasn't right either. He'd had control taken away from him for too long. Sam figured the least he could do was give him what he wanted. While at the same time making sure the decision didn't get him killed.

A rough throat clearing made him turn. And nearly stop breathing for a moment.

Gabriel stood in the doorway, this time not leaning against the frame. There was no way Cas' clothes should have fit like they were tailored, and Sam spared a moment to wonder at the hubris which caused him to spend even a tiny bit of his depleted grace on tailoring clothing. On the other hand, this was Gabriel.

The archangel met Sam's gaze for a moment, and then made an exaggerated look at me gesture, drawing attention to his entire body. Sam was uncomfortably reminded of Dean's awkward reaction to Cas' cleaning up after returning from Purgatory. He had never been aware of feeling even the slightest attraction to Gabriel, but, at that moment, the tingling thrill of desire flowed through him.

"Brother!" Cas chided. "Enough."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow but then shrugged, and walked into the room, dropping with none of his usual grace into the chair he'd vacated to get dressed.

Sam found himself able to breathe again.

"That was a foolish waste, Gabriel," Cas said.

Instead of answering, Gabriel reached for one of the two vials of his grace, which lay glowing softly on the table. Ketch had managed to steal three of the small vials from Asmodeus. They had already used one, leaving two.

Sam and Cas exchanged glances and nods. Sam said, "It's yours. We need the other to open the gate, but it would be your right to deny us that one too."

Gabriel shook his head, opened the vial and downed the grace. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He seemed more vital and _alive_ than he had before he'd taken it.

"Gabriel! I can feel your presence," Cas warned.

It took Sam a moment, but then he got it. If Cas could feel him, it was possible Asmodeus could as well, through the link forged by his stolen grace.

A moment later, Cas said, "That's better, brother."

Gabriel opened his eyes and stood up. He walked around the table, picked up the archangel blade and stowed it inside his coat. Then he motioned to Sam's gun and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Apparently, the return of his grace hadn't done much for his voice. Sam found himself missing the constant patter that usually accompanied the archangel.

"You know how to use a gun?" Sam asked.

It was a shadow of Gabriel's usual eye roll, but it got the message across.

"All right." There was an extra machine pistol on the table that he hadn't been able to fit into his backpack. He handed it over.

Gabriel motioned to the magazine, and Sam gave him three spares. He pointed to two of them. "These two have angel killing bullets, while this one, and the one in the gun, are loaded with regular ammo."

The archangel nodded, and, without hesitation, switched loads in his pistol to angel killers.

Sam nodded but didn’t say anything. If that was how Gabriel thought it would go down, he wasn’t going to argue.

At that moment, the Rift door, which had been narrowing steadily, winked out.

"It's time, Sam," Cas said.

Sam spared a moment to wonder what had happened to his brother, but there wasn't enough time to worry. He nodded. "Let's do the ritual, then" He turned to Gabriel. "Will it cause you any discomfort to be nearby when we use your grace?" He was embarrassed that he hadn't thought to ask the first time they'd done this.

Gabriel shook his head, and Sam felt a surge of relief.

Cas was already starting the ritual, and a few minutes later it was done.

Sam took a deep breath and hefted his full backpack. "Everyone ready?"

Cas nodded, but Gabriel shook his head.

"What do you need?" Sam asked, trying to keep irritation at the delay out of his voice.

"There's just one question I need to ask before we leave."

"Ask away," Sam said.

A hint of the old Trickster lurked in the corner of the archangel's eyes. "Did my baby brother really bone Dean Winchester?"

Sam tried and failed to hold in his sudden bark of laughter at that.

Cas just looked uncomfortable. "If by 'bone' you mean 'had sex' then yes."

Gabriel nodded and clapped his brother on the shoulder. "Good for you, Cas. Now let's do this thing and get Dean back. It's obviously been too long since you've been laid."


	11. Chapter 11

Ketch looked at Dean and said, for at least the third time, "And what exactly did you think that would accomplish?"

The two men were each tied to a post in the middle of the rebel camp. Their arms were tied behind them, with knots tight enough that even Dean, who had, over the years, learned just about every way possible to escape from bindings, was unable to loosen his even a little bit. He'd tried to get to the knife in his boot, but he couldn't get the right angle.

Dean sighed and shifted his shoulders, which were starting to ache fiercely. He glanced over at the angel, who was tied to a third post. He appeared to be unconscious. Apparently the rebels had learned some way to knock out angels.

"Okay," Dean said. "So maybe I didn't think that through quite well enough."

"The next time I suggest coming up with an actual plan, perhaps you'll listen?"

 _Probably not_ , Dean thought to himself, but he nodded. Perhaps that would shut the Brit up for at least a couple of minutes.

He couldn't stop looking at the angel. He looked nothing like his Cas, but Dean had no doubt it was the Castiel of this world. He couldn't put his finger on what convinced him, but it was more than hearing the other angel call him by name. Dean knew, deep in his bones, that this was Castiel. Something drew him. He wondered if it was the tiny bit of Cas' grace that he had within him. Was like calling to like?

Dean supposed it was just as well the angel was unconscious. He had no way of knowing Dean from any of the other rebels, and, with a sharp pain to his heart, he knew this angel would kill him in an instant. However, as soon as he'd heard the name, his body had responded without any thought from him. Cas in danger. Dean reacted.

Probably not a good place to operate from, but it was the way Dean Winchester loved.

One of the rebels came over, a tall man in ragged fatigues, rifle pointing down but ready to bring to bear in a moment. He crouched down in front of Dean. "So what's your story? Why were you running to save an angel? You're human. We know that because you didn't respond to what we used on it." He motioned with his chin in the direction of Castiel.

Dean's good sense asserted itself at the last minute, stopping him from reacting to Castiel being referred to as an "it." But that did explain why they'd injected him with something that had hurt like Hell but hadn't done anything.

As to answering the question, the truth obviously wasn't going to work, but he wasn't coming up with a good lie at the moment. So it was a good thing Ketch chimed in with, "We needed angel grace for a spell. We thought one angel would be easier to take than an entire patrol."

Dean stopped himself from frowning. That was a terrible story. Ketch usually did much better than that. What was going on?

The rebel clearly thought the same thing because he was shooting Ketch a disbelieving stare. "So you're telling me that you deliberately let us ambush a patrol to single out one angel for your spell?"

Ketch shrugged as best he could with his arms tied behind him. "It was our commander's idea. I never said it was a good one."

"Who's your commander?"

"Dr. Hess," Ketch replied before Dean had a chance to say anything.

Dean suppressed a smile at that. While no longer his commanding officer, it at least had been the truth. He decided to let Ketch continue to respond to this interrogation.

The rebel frowned. "What camp are you from?"

Ketch gestured with his chin in a vaguely easterly direction. "About two day's walk that way."

The frown deepened. "There's no camp over there."

"There is now."

The rebel shook his head and stood up. "Doesn't matter." He glanced to the sky, where the sun hung low on the horizon. Sunset was in less than an hour. The rebel continued. "We're going to execute the lot of you at sunset."

Dean did some hasty calculations. He estimated the Rift had closed less than an hour ago. Assuming Sam and Cas had opened a new Rift immediately, figured out where to go and moved at top speed, with no hesitation, it would be at least an hour after sundown before they could get here.

They were so screwed.


	12. Chapter 12

Gabriel stepped through the Rift. As soon as he was on the other side, he felt both relief and a shiver of disquiet.

The relief was being away from Asmodeus. Stolen grace bound them, and, even though Gabriel had managed to conceal his presence from the Prince of Hell, he hadn't been able to eliminate the constant pull toward his captor. He both dreaded and desired the demon's presence, and he hadn't been certain how much longer he'd be able to resist that unholy siren call.

His vessel, Joseph, calmed, and Gabriel was finally able to send him to sleep. He regretted the effect his captivity had inflicted on his vessel. Joseph had been with him for a very long time and had, at times, been a partner in his Gabriel's Trickster plots. Now he was afraid his vessel's soul was dying, having been too badly traumatized by Asmodeus' torture. He hoped to have an opportunity to heal him in the future, but, for now, he needed to keep him quiet. Cas hadn't been wrong when he'd told Sam that Gabriel was too weak, even with some of his grace restored, to remain in the vessel if Joseph tried to push him out.

As to the disquiet, this world felt completely wrong to the archangel. This land was blasted beyond healing. What made it worse to Gabriel was that he could sense the angel grace that had been used in the destruction. What had happened here? Had the Michael in this world so thoroughly turned away from his Father that he could rain down destruction with no thought to consequences?

Cas stepped through behind him, and Gabriel turned to gauge his brother's reaction.

"You sense the wrong, brother?" the younger angel asked.

Gabriel nodded.

Cas turned a slow circle. "This was done by our kind. How can that happen?"

Sam came through last, just in time to hear the question. "As far as we can tell, the Michael in this world is power mad and possibly insane."

The thought of an insane version of his eldest brother shot fear through Gabriel. Of course, if he was being perfectly honest with himself, something he usually tried to avoid, he was not entirely sane himself at the moment.

Sam did his own slow circle and finally stopped, facing west. "If I know my brother, he was planning to find the human rebels, and he'd expect to find them near water, which means the forest over there."

Gabriel looked in the way Sam was facing and found no fault with the theory.

"Sam, Gabriel. Over here." Cas was crouched down, examining tracks.

Gabriel took a step over but didn't look closely. He knew that Castiel was an excellent tracker. He'd followed the search through Hell for the Righteous Man, although from a safe distance, and he'd known his Father had sent Castiel on the search because of his uncanny tracking ability. Whatever his baby brother said about tracks was bound to be correct.

Sam, however, also crouched down to look. "Boots. Two sets. Good eyes, Cas."

Cas pointed to one boot print. "This looks like the same type that Dean wears."

Sam examined it more closely and nodded. "That's definitely his." He pointed to an irregularity in the tread. "Couple months ago, we were hunting a werewolf pack. One of them grabbed Dean by the boot and tore the sole. Dean loved those boots and decided to get them partially resoled rather than replace them. That's where the old and new soles join."

"The tracks seem to lead in the direction of the forest," Cas said. "I think your analysis of Dean's actions are correct."

"Let's go," Sam said. He gave Gabriel a long look. "You up for a couple hour's walk?"

Not really, but what else was he to do? There was no way he was staying here. If he had to walk, he'd walk.

He nodded, and they all set off.

Sam took point, trotting a bit ahead of them. Cas stayed with his brother. Gabriel tried to wrestle his thoughts into something that made sense.

Asmodeus had fucked with him but good. The little speech he'd made before crossing over had taken every bit of his concentration. Several years into his captivity and numerous vials of purloined grace later, his own words had stopped making reliable sense to him. Even thinking had become difficult. It had become easier to just sit and listen without trying to think. His listening comprehension never went away. He only had difficulty producing words.

Considering that Loki had also been known as "Silver Tongue," this had been many kinds of disturbing.

In an attempt to distract himself--thinking about Asmodeus was starting to rouse Joseph--he thought about Sam's speech of the night before. The younger Winchester had obviously come a long way in his introspection. He had been correct about the lessons Gabriel had been attempting to teach. If only he had learned them a few years earlier, Apocalypse the First might not have happened, and Gabriel could have remained Loki indefinitely.

Although then he wouldn't have had an excuse to meet Sam again, and that would have been too bad. Too bad indeed. Even the years of torture couldn't completely drive away his attraction to Sam Winchester. He wasn't able to do anything about that desire until he'd had some time to heal, but he hadn't been able to resist stretching his grace earlier and turning on the charm.

Cas could have the elder brother. Gabriel had his eye on the younger, and now that Sam was well on his way to figuring out how to be his own person, he didn't intend to let the young Hunter out of his sight for long.

"Brother, may I ask something?" Cas asked.

Gabriel considered refusing the request. It was within his rights as the more powerful angel, and he thought he knew what Cas was going to ask. He was either going to ask why Gabriel was still alive, or, worse, ask for details of what Asmodeus had done. He wasn't in the mood to answer either.

On the other hand, he'd always had a hard time denying his baby brother anything, so he finally nodded.

"How did you know I'd had sex with Dean?"

Okay, that was not the question he'd expected. That one he could answer. Assuming he could get words to work.

He tried several times to force his brain to form a coherent sentence, but it wasn't happening. Then he had the idea to switch languages.

"It was easy," Gabriel said in Enochian. His native language flowed more easily. "First, I was listening in the kitchen and Sam did say you had broken up with Dean." A hint of a twinkle glittered in the corner of his eyes. "But more importantly, your baby brother funk was all over the sweats Sam handed me. I'm guessing Dean hadn't washed them since the last time you two did the horizontal mambo."

Enochian didn’t exactly have the words for most of those concepts, but he made it work. It gave him hope that he’d eventually regain his facility with language.

If Cas had been human, he would have blushed. Since he wasn't human, he said, "We were vertical at the time. Dean had been too impatient to make it to the bed."

That surprised a laugh out of Gabriel, his first in a very long time. He reached out and pulled his brother in for a one-armed hug.

Now that was good. Gabriel had always been a tactile creature, and the denial of contact had been one of the hardest things about his captivity. Of course, Asmodeus had figured it out and devised ways to use it against him. However, this was his brother angel, and there was no fear or pain in touching him. Just the pleasure of physical contact and mingling of grace.

If only it were as easy to touch Sam. It had taken all of Gabriel's will to reach out last night to offer some physical comfort to the young man.

Gabriel found himself doing some mental math. Sam at 34 was hardly a "young man" anymore by human standards. Well, by angel standards he was still an infant, so he'd stick with the description.

"Why'd you two break up?" Gabriel asked his brother, still speaking in Enochian.

Cas shrugged under Gabriel's arm. "He took on the Mark of Cain."

"He did what?" That was rash, even for Dean Winchester.

"Took on the Mark of Cain because he thought it was the way to save the world. I didn't like what it did to him, and I broke things off."

"Brother. Do you have any idea how hot the sex would have been?"

Cas turned his head to look at his brother. "While sex with Dean was very nice, it wasn't the basis of our relationship. Dean is often self-destructive, but that took it to new levels."

Gabriel considered. Finally, he said, "Well, he doesn't have it now. Even out of it, I think I would have noticed that."

"No, he was able to get rid of it."

"And you still haven't forgiven him? Brother, that's cold."

Cas nodded. "That's essentially what Sam said. I told him I would talk to Dean after we get out of here."

Gabriel drew his brother in closer and said, "That's good. Dean and I probably won't see eye to eye about much, but he is good for you. And I suspect you're good for him too."

Sam trotted back just then. His eyes flickered to Gabriel's arm around Cas. For a second, there was hurt in the hazel eyes, followed by shame and then relief. Okay, Sam still had issues. Maybe after this was all over, Gabriel could help him with a few of those.

"The trail keeps going in the direction of the forest. I'm sure that's where Dean and Ketch were headed." His eyes went to the lowering sun. It would be night soon. "It's going to be hard for me to see very far in less than an hour. Maybe Cas should scout ahead now?"

Cas gave his brother a quick one-armed squeeze and let go to move past Sam and trot just out of sight down the trail. Gabriel could still sense him, which was reassuring. He really didn't want members of his family too far away from him now.

Sam moved to walk beside him. He moved easily, adjusting his stride to match Gabriel's. They walked in comfortable silence, which surprised Gabriel. As he'd expected Cas to ask him questions, he'd rather thought Sam would as well.

After several minutes, Sam cleared his throat and said, "I was always glad it was just Dean around when I got my Hell memories back. He knew not to ask how I was doing, and I imagine you appreciate the same thing. Happy to listen if you want to talk, but I won't ask."

Relief flowed through Gabriel, so powerful that he stumbled. Sam caught his arm, and Gabriel was surprised when the sudden motion didn't trigger a panic attack.

Sam let him go as soon as the angel was stable again. However, he said nothing, just continued walking.

Gabriel wanted to say something. He wasn't even sure what; he just wanted to connect with words. He tried several times to speak, but nothing intelligible was coming out. Finally, he redirected his efforts to speak and managed to touch Sam's shoulder.

The man turned, and Gabriel moved forward before he could think about it. He managed the same one-armed hug he'd given to Cas, and it was worth it to see Sam's face light up in joy.

He couldn't maintain the contact, but he held it as long as he could. As he let go, he managed to say, "Thank you, Sam."

"You're welcome."

Finally, he knew what he wanted to say, and he ran the words around in his head several times, making sure they would come out the way he intended.

"Forgive me for Dean?" He was afraid to hear the answer, but he needed to know.

Sam gave him a smile. "Yeah, I'll forgive you for those deaths. But turning me into a car?" His eyes gleamed. "Never."

Gabriel smiled. He could work with that.

Again, they walked together.

By sundown they were perhaps halfway to the forest. While Gabriel could sense angels in the distance, there were none near enough to threaten them. He kept alert, however. Cas had said that angels here still had wings.

Suddenly, he felt Cas moving quickly toward them, and the archangel stopped.

Sam noticed he wasn't moving and gave him a quizzical look. Gabriel motioned to where he could see his brother, advancing toward them with purposeful strides. Sam pulled out his gun and got ready.

As Cas drew closer, Sam said, "What's wrong?"

Before Cas could speak, Gabriel felt what his brother must have sensed. Cursing his difficulty with words, he managed to get out one word. "Dean."

Sam's attention snapped back to him.

Gabriel spoke in Enochian, trusting Cas to translate but hating the extra time that it took.

Sam's attention went back and forth between them. Cas listened for a moment, and his eyes grew wide.

"What?" Sam asked. Gabriel could hear the barely controlled panic in his voice.

Before answering, Cas asked Gabriel, "You are certain?"

Gabriel nodded.

Cas turned to Sam. "I felt the distress of an angel, over an hour's walk that way." He motioned to the forest. "At the same time, I felt that Dean was in danger. Sometimes, I can sense the piece of my grace within him, and it calls to me. Gabriel confirmed what I was sensing, but he added one more thing."

"What?" Sam asked.

"The angel is--well, Gabriel says that the angel is me."

Sam just blinked for a moment. "You mean that in the entirety of this world, my brother manages to end up with the alternate universe version of you?"

"Apparently."

Gabriel was done with explanations. The other Castiel was screaming for aid, and Gabriel knew they only had moments before he'd be executed. He reached out, grabbed both Sam and Cas by their shoulders and flew.


	13. Chapter 13

Dean had been watching the sun drop deeper, his anxiety increasing the closer the ball of light moved to the horizon. Both he and Ketch had tried repeatedly to loosen their bonds, but neither had managed to succeed.

He was running out of ideas and starting to think he was going to die. He had a sinking feeling that there would be no reprieve from Death here. He'd cheated Death too many times, and the one in this world had no reason to treat him differently from any other soul.

About an hour earlier, he'd had the strange sensation that Cas was near, and he'd hoped for a miraculous rescue, but the feeling had faded, and he'd given up waiting for something that clearly wasn't coming.

The rebels started moving about, busy with preparations. They poured a circle of what Dean assumed was holy oil around Castiel and then injected the unconscious angel with something. Dean watched curiously, wondering what they were doing.

A few minutes later, the angel opened his eyes and moved as if to stand up. One of the rebels dropped a burning twig on the oil, and holy fire blazed up around the angel.

Dean got it. They wanted him awake for execution.

"I think it is nearly time," Ketch said, his tone resigned. "If you have any last-minute ideas, now would be a good time."

Dean shook his head. "I got nothing, man. Sorry. I just hope they off us before they kill Castiel. Even though he's not my angel, I don't want to watch that."

Castiel was standing in the middle of the burning circle. The rebels just watched him. Suddenly, the angel lifted his head to the sky and screamed. Dean clapped his hands to his ears so hard that it hurt almost as much as the hint of Castiel's true voice. If not for the circle of holy fire buffering them, they all would have died right there.

Castiel screamed again, and Dean realized he was crying for help. Oh, hell. In a couple of minutes, this place was likely to be raining angels. Maybe he and Ketch could do something with that?

The rebels lifted their guns, preparing to gun down the trapped angel. Dean started to close his eyes, not wanting to watch that, but then he heard the unmistakable flap of angel wings off to his left.

He turned, wanting to evaluate his chances to use the confusion to create an escape opportunity. However, what he saw made him blink in surprise. Instead of a squad of military angels, he saw Cas, Sam and...Gabriel? What the fuck?

Gabriel and Cas shifted so they were back to back, and they started laying down covering fire. Cas' shotgun blast took down two rebels, while Gabriel was firing controlled bursts from a machine pistol? When did archangels learn to shoot like that? Damn, that was hot.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he pushed it away. He was not going to get the hots for the dude who had killed him over a hundred times.

He felt Ketch's tension beside him. This was it. They needed to be ready.

Sam used the covering fire to run over and crouch by his brother, knife out. "I'm going to free you and go help Gabe and Cas. You get Ketch free."

Gabe? What had happened back in his world while he was gone?

The ropes parted under Sam's knife. His brother placed the blade in his hand and started to stand up.

Just then Cas' voice exploded in his mind. "Dean! Close your eyes!"

Dean didn't think. His body moved without conscious thought, pulling Sam down and driving his head into the ground, eyes down.

He had just enough time to bark "Ketch! Eyes closed!" before an angel's voice, just on the edge of his true voice, yelled something in Enochian, and the world exploded in a flash of white.

Sam was struggling and saying something about Gabriel, but Dean held his brother down until the light faded.

As soon as he was sure it was safe, he rolled off of Sam, lifted his head and opened his eyes.

All the rebels were down, eye sockets blasted. Castiel stood in his circle of holy fire, gazing curiously in the direction of Gabriel and Cas. Ketch was stirring, so Dean assumed he was all right.

Sam was scrambling to his feet, yelling, "Gabe!"

Dean turned to follow his brother's mad dash just in time to see the archangel collapse like a puppet whose strings had broken. Sam skidded to a stop by his crumpled body. He gathered the archangel to himself and rocked him, back and forth.

Cas knelt down beside his brother and put a hand to his forehead. A moment later, he shook his head. "His vessel is fighting him, and I fear my brother expended too much of his grace to hold on."

Dean was trying to figure out exactly what that all meant when this universe's Castiel spoke, his quiet commanding voice calm and even. "If you let me out of here, I might be able to assist."


	14. Chapter 14

Sam cradled Gabriel's body in his arms. Cas still knelt beside them, and Sam asked, "What happened? Why'd he do that?"

Leaving a gentle hand on his brother's forehead, the angel answered, "There were three different rebels about to shoot you. I felt my brother calculate and recalculate the angles. At best, he could only get two with his gun. The third had a clean shot. Gabriel gave me enough notice to warn Dean, and then he did the only thing he could do to save you."

Sam felt cold at the explanation. No. It couldn't be. Gabriel had just come back, and now this?

"What are his chances at holding on to his vessel, Cas?

The angel didn't sugar-coat it. "Not good. He was already weakened, and he expended much of his remaining grace. I'm sorry, Sam."

"Sammy!" Dean called.

Both Sam and Cas turned to look at the elder Winchester, who was standing by the ring of holy fire.

"He thinks he can help," Dean said.

Cas stood up. "I doubt it, but I will speak to him and see if what he says is true."

Dean and Cas passed each other as Dean walked toward Sam. The Hunter put out a hand and traced it along Cas' arm as they walked past each other. Cas gave him a small smile and continued to his counterpart.

Dean dropped down by his brother. Sam was rocking Gabriel slowly back and forth. The archangel's eyes were closed, and he appeared oddly peaceful, considering the battle that was going on inside him. The battle he was probably going to lose.

Sam felt hot tears flow down his cheeks. He raised his head to look at his brother. "Dean. When I saw him fall... I realized... I think I--" He motioned down at the still figure in his arms, unable to get the words out past his fear.

Dean nodded and put a hand on his shoulder. "I know, Sam. I kind of got that."

"Dean, if he dies again, I--"

Dean gave him a stern look. "Well, Sammy, me and Cas and the other Cas are just going to have to make sure that doesn't happen. Winchesters take care of their own."

He looked at Gabriel when he said the last, and a tiny bit of relief trickled through Sam. At least his brother wasn't going to make an issue out of him maybe falling in love with the former Trickster.

Their own Cas walked over at that moment. Both Winchesters looked at him hopefully.

"I think he may be able to assist. He has mind healing skills I don't possess."

Hope leaped in Sam.

"You sure he's not just saying that to get loose," Dean asked, ever the practical one.

Cas shook his head. "It's difficult for angels to lie to each other. He is telling the truth. He has the skills. Whether they will be enough?" Cas shrugged.

Dean turned to Sam. "It's a shot. You want to try it?”

Sam glanced down at Gabriel's still face, no hint of the Trickster in the pale visage. "At this point, I don't think it could hurt. I say we try."

Dean nodded and stood up to signal Ketch, who had been standing off to the side, obviously giving the Winchesters a bit of privacy. "Ketch, can you break the circle of holy fire and free the angel."

"You are certain this is the correct course of action?" Ketch asked.

Dean leaned down to pick up Gabriel's machine pistol. He checked the load, which Sam knew still held angel killers. Gabriel hadn't had time to change loads before everything had broken loose.

The Hunter nodded and slung the weapon for easy access. "Yeah, but in case I'm wrong, I've got angel killing bullets as backup."

Ketch nodded and started for the ring of fire. "Sounds like a plan."

Sam knew there was a story in his brother's amused grin, but he'd find out later. Right now, he just wanted Gabriel to be okay.

Ketch freed the imprisoned angel, who walked over to them. Sam had a chance to look him over for the first time.

Castiel looked nothing like Cas. Like his brother angels in Apocalypse World, he was dressed in military combat gear. Unlike Cas, he appeared comfortable in the clothes. His vessel was shorter, perhaps only a few inches taller than Gabriel, but he was built solid. Blond hair and green eyes completed the image. And yet, somehow Sam recognized traces of their angel in the stranger.

Castiel knelt down and touched a finger to Gabriel's forehead. He closed his eyes as if concentrating intently. After a moment, he said, "Yes, I can help, but--" He glanced to the sky. "We can't stay here. Some of my brethren heard my call for help. They will be here in moments."

"Can you teleport us out of here?” Dean asked.

"Not all at once." He appeared to be calculating for a moment. "I can take you in two trips." He motioned to Sam and Gabriel. "I will take them first and be back for the others."

Without warning, he reached down, touched Sam and vanished with him and Gabriel.

A moment later, they landed in what looked like a hut. Sam was still sitting, holding Gabriel. "Where are we?"

"Someplace safe," was all Castiel said before a flutter of wings indicated his absence.

Sam barely had time to fret before he reappeared again, with Dean, Ketch and Cas.

Dean glanced around. "They can't find us here?"

Castiel shook his head. "Not right away. They would find us eventually, but I don't need that long."

He sat down on the floor, smoothly folding his legs under him with no hint of awkwardness in his inhabitation of his vessel.

"Sam, is it?" he asked.

Sam nodded.

"May I have your permission to start? The longer we wait, the more likely he is to lose this battle."

Sam hesitated for a moment. He hardly felt qualified to make decisions for Gabriel, even though he’d already said he wanted to try. He glanced up at Cas, who gave a small nod.

Sam squared his shoulders. "All right." He held the compact form a bit tighter. "Do I need to move?"

Castiel shook his head, the motion natural in a way it never was with Cas. "No. I believe your presence will make this easier."

With that, he placed his entire hand on Gabriel's brow and closed his eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

He'd run the angles more times than he could count. No matter what he did, he could only shoot two of them. The third would kill Sam every time.

That left only one choice, but it was risky as fuck. He wasn't even sure he could do it without killing Dean, Ketch, and possibly even Sam. But it was less risky than the other options, and there was no way he was going to let Sam die if there was even the slightest chance this could work.

Gabriel had just enough time to warn Cas, trusting his brother's bond with Dean to save the three humans.

Then he opened his arms and let his grace burst from him in one explosion. The old him, before Dean's speech in an abandoned warehouse, would have held something back. This new him--who had taken a stand against his brother and then survived endless torture at the hands of Asmodeus--this new him released it all.

He heard screaming and knew he had killed at least two dozen humans, but he didn't care. The gorgeous brightness that was the soul of Sam Winchester still shone.

Joseph woke with a scream and tried to thrust him out of his body. The vessel's soul was completely insane at this point. All their shared history had been ripped from him at the bloody hands of Asmodeus.

Gabriel hung on to his vessel with every bit of trickery and tenacity he had learned in his centuries on Earth. Almost did he lose his hold, but then he shifted his grip and bore down with the scraps of grace left behind from his last act.

He held for now.

But he knew he couldn't hold on much longer. This was finally it. In his weakened state, he couldn't survive the expulsion from his vessel.

He wished he could have said goodbye to Sam, but it was enough to know that he was alive. Dean and Cas would look after him. He'd be fine. It wasn't as if he'd fallen in love with one run-down archangel. Only Gabriel had been foolish enough to briefly dream of something that could never have been.

His metaphorical fingers slipped. He adjusted his grip, thought he could hold on a little longer, but no.

He lost his hold on his vessel.

All right. He'd had a good run. He was ready for this.

A hand gripped him tight and dragged him back into his vessel.

Suddenly, Gabriel found himself in green fields, the sun shining on his face. Another angel stood in front of him.

"Brother from another world," the angel said.

Gabriel took a moment to answer, trying to adjust to not yet being dead.

"Castiel?" he finally asked, although he knew the answer and was just buying himself another minute.

"Yes." Castiel stepped forward and pulled the archangel into a tight hug.

"Whoa, tiger. Easy there." However, he hugged back just as hard, holding the younger angel for what felt like several minutes.

Finally, Castiel gave him one final squeeze and stepped back. "Thank you. My Gabriel was killed by Michael centuries ago. I have missed him greatly."

"Glad I could help," Gabriel said, pleased that words were coming easily to him in this strange place. "So, you're not with Michael here?"

Castiel shook his head. "I am an angel. It is my place to serve, and with Michael the only remaining archangel, I serve in his forces, but I do what I can to slow the pace of his advancements, without anyone realizing what I am doing."

Gabriel smiled. "That's my baby brother. Good job, kid." He turned in a circle, examining the featureless surroundings. "But where are we?"

"A construct of my mind. This is where I do healing."

Gabriel stopped his turn to face the angel. "Healing? But Cas doesn't have mind healing powers."

"Cas may not, but I do. I am accounted one of the best."

Who knew? AU!Cas had extra special super powers. Good for him. "Can you heal me?"

Castiel inclined his head. "I believe so. I have been working while we speak. I find that conversation distracts my patients, allowing me a freer hand to do my work."

Okay. And that wasn't in the slightest bit weird.

"Joseph?" Gabriel asked.

Castiel's expression grew grave. "He is dying. I sense that the trials you have faced recently have damaged him greatly. There is nothing I can do save make his passing comfortable."

That hurt. Angels weren't really equipped to inhabit empty vessels, although apparently Cas did all right with it. "May I say goodbye?"

"Of course."

Joseph appeared in front of Gabriel. Surprisingly, he was smiling. "Don't look so glum, Gabriel. It's been a good ride. Weren't you the one who told me that Heaven would be one big party, with food and debauchery without end?"

Gabriel couldn't help smiling at that. He and Joseph had been a good match for each other. "I did."

Joseph's expression softened, and he stepped forward to hug the archangel. "It's been a privilege," the man breathed into Gabriel's shoulder.

Gabriel held him close for a moment and then pulled back, holding the soul's face in gentle hands. He brought him in for a kiss.

When they broke apart, Joseph was smiling. "You knew I'd wanted to do that for centuries, didn't you?"

"Of course." Gabriel wanted to find some levity in the moment, but he had nothing. "You never could hide anything from me."

"True that."

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Goodbye, old friend."

Joseph's smile widened. "Kick the idiots who are running Heaven in the balls, help Cas clean up the place, and then come visit me."

Gabriel couldn't help returning the smile. "I'll do that."

Joseph faded away. Once he was gone, Gabriel closed his eyes for a moment in respect.

When he opened them again, Castiel was still looking at him.

"So what else needs to be done?" Gabriel asked.

"Not too much. I've given you back most of your language. You'll still experience a bit of residual difficulty for a while, but you should be back to normal soon enough." He nodded. "There. I've broken the link to Asmodeus. That was a nasty one." His voice never changed pitch or showed the faintest bit of strain.

Gabriel waited, feeling _something_ happening but not certain exactly what the other angel was doing.

Finally, Castiel nodded. "There, that's the last of it. I can't completely heal the damage Asmodeus did. You need some time to process and deal with it naturally, but I've laid down some channels. As you work through things, those channels will make the healing go faster."

Gabriel did a quick inventory. Yes, the link to Asmodeus, which had been quiescent but still present in Apocalypse World, was gone. He felt no more pull to the Prince of Hell. As for the rest, he could sense the channels Castiel had mentioned, and he knew they would help. A part of him wished the other angel could snap his fingers and make the pain go away like Gabriel got rid of door-to-door salesmen who couldn't take a hint, but he knew emotional trauma couldn't be rushed. If you didn't do it right, something would show up later to bite you in the ass.

"Anything I missed?" Castiel asked.

Gabriel shook his head. "Not that I can sense. It all looks good."

"I took the liberty of accelerating your grace regeneration a bit. It's not much, but it'll give you a bit of power until you can get back to your own world."

"Thanks, man." He paused. "How can I thank you?"

Castiel cocked his head, looking in that moment eerily like his counterpart. "Take care of that human of yours. I like him."

Gabriel smiled. "I plan to do that. Surely, that's not all?"

"No, it's not." Castiel paused.

"Go ahead, kiddo. What is it? I owe you."

Finally, the other angel said, "Take care of things in your world and then come back to help ours? Someone needs to overthrow Michael. We have no archangels here. You could give me the boost I need."

Old Gabriel would have made a joke and bounced. New Gabriel nodded and said, "I think I can do that. Pretty sure I can get all the Winchesters, even the adopted one, to help out too."

Castiel smiled. "Thank you, brother."

They hugged one more time before the construct faded and Gabriel opened his eyes to see Sam's worried hazel eyes searching his. He realized he was lying in Sam's lap, and wasn't that nice?

"Good to see you, big guy. Did you miss me?"


	16. Chapter 16

Sam's joy when Gabriel opened his eyes was beyond anything he had felt in years. He examined the golden-hazel eyes and saw Trickster Gabriel staring back at him, although there was still plenty of pain hidden behind the twinkle. There also seemed to be a new maturity. Except for the pain, Sam rather liked the look on him.

Gabriel made no attempt to move for several seconds, but just after the moment started to extend into uncomfortable territory, the archangel pushed up into a sitting position and looked around the room.

"So apparently my insane plan worked and didn't kill anyone I hadn't intended." He nodded at Cas. "Good job with the warning, bro."

Sam noticed that words were coming easier to him, although he thought he noticed a faint hitch in his speech. It appeared as if Castiel's healing had done the job.

Cas was nodding back when Sam fixed Gabriel with a stern look. The archangel immediately dropped his eyes. Okay, good to note. Still some issues. However, he still was going to have his say. "Don't you ever do that again, Gabe. We can't afford to lose an archangel to stupidity."

He sensed Dean's satisfied smirk beside him and knew he was going to be in for a lot of ribbing in the future, but damned if he wasn't going to be a bit protective of Gabriel!

The archangel met his eyes for a moment and said, his tone sober, "There weren't any other options, Sam. I ran the angles. No matter what, you died, and I wasn't going to let that happen."

Dean stiffened and sat up straighter at that statement. Well, there went any hope of getting support from that quarter to counter Gabriel if he tried something like that in the future.

"I'm not indispensable," Sam back.

"Yeah, you kind of are," Gabriel said, sad resignation in his voice.

Silence reigned after that. Sam didn't know what to say to that, and he knew Dean wasn't going to be any help.

Finally, Ketch cleared his throat and said, "That may be, but we still have a situation here. I appreciate the rescue, but we still need to find Mary and Jack."

Gabriel brightened at the mention of Jack, and he said, "Right. I want to meet my nephew. Heard a bit about him and want to see if he lives up to his press."

"Nephew?" came a strangled question from Castiel.

Everyone turned to look at him.

"You have a Nephilim in your world?" he continued. "How did that happen?"

Of course, Gabriel was the one who answered. "Well, Castiel, it's like this. When a daddy archangel and a human girl love each other very much, they..."

Sam wondered if anyone else noticed the undertones behind Gabriel's characteristically manic outburst. While the words were typical, something about the delivery was off. Then he got it. Gabriel was truly frightened, and in his usual fashion, using humor to compensate.

He turned his attention back to the conversation.

"I know how a Nephilim is produced," Castiel said, his tone sharp. "You say 'nephew,' so it isn't yours."

Gabriel shook his head. "No. I'm given to understand that Jack is Lucifer's."

Sam was confused. Based on how Cas had reacted at first to the idea of a Nephilim, he would have expected outrage from Castiel. Instead, the angel had a look of consideration on his face.

"What is your point?" Cas asked. Sam could see he was ready to jump to Jack's defense if needed.

"Michael has produced three Nephilim in the course of this war," Castiel said. "As you know, they are quite powerful. His children filled the typical role of archangels in this war."

"There are three Nephilim over here?" Dean asked, his tone clearly communicating, _oh we are so screwed_.

Castiel shook his head. "No, there is only one. Michael was under the impression that he could produce a relatively unlimited number of them, and he used them recklessly in combat."

"I take it he can no longer produce them?" Ketch asked.

A hint of a smug smile played around Castiel's mouth. "That is correct."

"And you had something to do with that?" Dean asked. Sam could hear his pride in the question. Yes, his brother would be pleased with any version of Cas coming up with something clever.

"He was injured quite severely a few years ago. I am the only angel with the skill to do more than a surface healing on an archangel, so they brought him to me. While I was working on him, I made sure he could never produce another child."

"You gave Michael the archangel version of a vasectomy?" Gabriel asked in delight.

Castiel nodded.

"My counterpart taught you well."

Castiel gave a small smile. "Better than Michael knows."

"And I assume you covered your tracks well?" Sam asked, concern mixing with humor mixing with his own delight. He thought he liked this version of Castiel.

"Very well. No one knows, except for all of you."

"That's my baby brother from another universe's father," Gabriel said, his tone proud.

Dean spoke up. "So what you're telling us, Castiel, is that you aren't a part of the Michael fan club?"

That elicited a confused head tilt which was exactly like Cas.

Sam stifled a laugh while Dean clarified, amused affection in his green eyes. "You're working against him in some capacity?"

"Yes," Castiel answered. He gestured in the direction of outside. "Have you seen what he has done to this world with his pointless war? This used to be a beautiful place. Heaven was a sanctuary for both angels and souls. Now the land is blasted, and Heaven is an armed camp. He killed both Lucifer and my Gabriel when they refused to work with him, and he sent Raphael on a suicide mission."

Sam heard the loss in his voice when he referred to “his” Gabriel. That explained his willingness to help their Gabriel. "How many angels feel the way you do?" he asked, wondering if their task might be a bit easier than they had originally thought.

"A few. Not as many as there could be." Castiel looked at Gabriel. "With an archangel and a Nephilim on our side, I think I could convince others to join us."

Everyone looked at Gabriel, who was uncharacteristically solemn. Finally, he said, "Yes. I will help you, but not right away. I need time to heal. I'm too weak right now to be of much use to you."

"Really?" Dean said. "This coming from the angel who runs. Who doesn't take a stand?"

Sam wanted to come to Gabriel's defense, but, before he could gather his thoughts, Gabriel said, "I know what I've done in the past. I had my reasons, which I have already covered with you. Spending years being tortured changes one, as you should know, Dean."

Sam noted that his brother looked slightly embarrassed at that.

"I've made mistakes," Gabriel continued. "I don't intend to make them again, and I've decided I want to atone for some of them. Besides, Michael is coming through to our world if we don't stop them." He mirrored Castiel's gesture to the outside. "I like Earth. I like humanity. I don't want this for my world."

Dean nodded, his expression thoughtful. "All right. I can buy that. But answer me one question first. Did you really die seven years ago? Or was that another trick?"

Gabriel started to open his mouth, but Sam spoke first. "Dean, no." While he definitely wanted the answer to that, he was pretty sure Gabriel didn't want to answer it this way.

Dean looked like he was going to argue, but Sam continued. "It's not relevant to this. Drop it."

Dean looked surprised at Sam's vehemence, but he did as instructed and didn't push it.

Sam glanced over at Gabriel and saw the gratitude in his eyes. "So you can't take on Michael now. That's fine. We still need to get Mom and Jack. Jack's young and doesn't know everything he can do. Any chance you can train him?"

Jack needed more than training. He needed someone to convince him that he wasn't automatically a monster.

Gabriel nodded. "I can do that."

Sam wasn't sure he completely liked this newer Gabriel. He was starting to miss the joking.

"So what's the plan for Mom and Jack?" Sam asked.

"We're not sure yet where they are," Dean pointed out. "We need to find them first."

"I can find them," Gabriel said. "A Nephilim should stand out like a boil on a porn star's ass."

Gross, but that was a bit more like the Gabriel Sam remembered.

"Colorful," Ketch said. "Hopefully they aren't too far away."

"Let me see what I can find," Gabriel said. "All humans close your eyes. I can't guarantee I won't leak a bit of grace while I do this."

Sam closed his eyes and waited. Unfortunately, that gave him time to think, and he found his thoughts drifting to the hug Gabriel had given him. From there, they drifted to his horror when he thought he might lose Gabriel again. How had the archangel gotten such a hold on him? Was he really falling for him, or was it just some sort of weird relief that his opening of Lucifer's Cage hadn't gotten him killed permanently seven years earlier?

"Got him," Gabriel said, pulling Sam back to the present.

When he looked at the archangel, he noticed amusement deep in his hazel eyes, and he had the uncomfortable feeling he knew what Sam had been thinking.

"Jack isn't too far away. Only about 10 miles to the west. No other angels nearby."

"Can you teleport us there?" Sam asked. "It'll be faster, and we are under a time limit."

Gabriel was shaking his head even before Sam stopped speaking. "No can do, kiddo. First off, while Castiel here jump started my grace restoration, I don't have much to spare. Rather save it for emergencies. Second, Jack doesn't know me from--well, Adam--, and he'd rightly freak if I showed up without an invitation."

"I can teleport you," Castiel said. "Although it would be better if I put you down a mile or so away from him. I'd rather not get shot if he's in the middle of a rebel camp."

"Oh, he is," Gabriel said. "He's surrounded by at least fifty humans. Not the best place for an angel."

"I'll take my chances," Cas said. "I haven't come this far to wait at a distance."

"And I'm going," Dean said. "So Cas and me. Who else?"

"I'll go," Ketch said. "If Mary is there, I owe her a rescue."

"You owe her more than that," snapped Dean.

Ketch started to answer, but Sam said, "Enough. Both of you. We don't have time for this." He turned to Castiel. "So can you drop us all about a mile or so away? Dean, Ketch and Cas can hike in on foot the rest of the way."

"What about you?" Dean asked.

"He's staying with me," Gabriel said. "Backup."

"Is that what they're calling it now?" Dean asked, with an expression that was half wry and half pissed.

Gabriel just gave him his trademark Trickster grin.

Sam rolled his eyes at both of them.

Gabriel cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "If we're all done with comparing modern slang, how about we look a couple of steps ahead. I'm assuming Dean and company can get Jack and Mary out." He turned to Castiel. "You still need our help, but we're going to have to head back to our world for a while. I need to heal and to train Jack. Can you stall Michael long enough to buy us some time to get ready?"

Sam mentally added "ganking Asmodeus" to the list.

Castiel considered for a moment before nodding. "Yes. I have sufficient allies to continue as we have for several weeks, perhaps even longer."

Gabriel nodded. "Good. Don't take too many chances, but buy us what time you can. We'll figure out a way to get word to you when we are almost ready to make our move."

"Who made you the leader of this thing?" Dean asked, green eyes flashing.

"Dean," Cas said. "That's enough. Gabriel was accounted an excellent strategist. I learned much from him. I think we should listen to his advice."

"My Gabriel was also an accomplished leader," Castiel added.

Dean grumbled but said nothing else. Sam sighed inwardly. His brother was going to make this awkward. While Sam may have forgiven Gabriel, Dean was going to take longer to get there.

"I will do what I can," Castiel said. "Thank you."

"All right. That's all settled," Dean said. "Let's get this going. No offense, Castiel, but I've been here long enough."


	17. Chapter 17

Dean didn't like much of this. Somehow the idea of his brother getting it on with an archangel had been easier when said archangel had been dying. Now that it looked like he was going to survive, Dean was rethinking things. On the one hand, he was one to talk about falling for an angel. On the other hand, Gabriel?

Dean managed to push those thoughts aside for later. Castiel had teleported them to coordinates he'd gotten from Gabriel. That put them close enough that Cas could sense Jack. Castiel had winged off back to his people, after accepting an awkward hug from Cas. Dean had grinned at that. Cas was really into hugs now, but obviously Castiel hadn't had many.

He, Cas and Ketch had left Sam and Gabriel behind--Dean was still sore about that--and headed off in the direction where Cas had sensed Jack. Ketch was scouting ahead.

After they had been walking for a few minutes, Cas said, "Dean. Please give my brother a break. I know you have reason to still be mad at him, but I believe he is sincere about helping us."

Dean gave a big sigh. "I actually agree with you on that, Cas. But it just rubs me the wrong way to be working with him. He's run before. Nothing to stop him running again."

"Is that really what you are worried about?"

Dean frowned. "Yeah. What else would I be worried about?"

"The fact that your brother and mine are getting close?"

Dean thought things through for a minute before saying, "Yeah, that is part of it. I think Sam is really falling for him. You were talking to Castiel at the time, but he pretty well admitted that. I get that my brother is looking for someone, but I'm not convinced Gabriel won't turn out to be the love 'em and leave 'em kind of guy. I don't want that for Sam."

Cas nodded, his blue eyes somber. "It's logical that you would worry about Sam, but I don't think Gabriel would do that."

Dean snorted his disbelief. "Have you seen the guy?"

"He _is_ my brother.” His expression held a hint of _I am an angel and do know more than a mere human_. “It has been a long time since I spent time with him, but I don't think his essential nature has changed that much. Gabriel has always liked humans, and I think Sam is more than just another...what is the slang word for someone who is taken advantage of at a carnival?"

"I think the word you are looking for is 'mark.'" Cas had recently been trying to learn more slang. Although Dean didn't know why, he did think it was adorable. He was also glad to be having this conversation. He and Cas hadn't talked that much about anything except hunting since things had gone sour between them. This was the easiest they had been with each other in a long time.

"Yes, that's the word. Sam is more than just a mark to Gabriel. I don't yet know my brother's intentions, but I believe he will be honorable about them."

Dean wasn't sure that "honorable" and "Gabriel" went together, but there wasn't much he could do about it now. He'd watch and kick the archangel's ass if he broke Sam's heart. Then he'd get Sam roaring drunk.

Ketch came trotting back along the path just then. "The camp is just ahead. We should get there in less than ten minutes."

"All right," Dean said. "Let's get everyone back. I want to get home."


	18. Chapter 18

As soon as Dean, Ketch and Cas were out of sight, Gabriel collapsed against a nearby rock and closed his eyes. He felt language slipping away from him again, and it had taken all of his limited energy to do the planning they had just done.

"Gabe? Are you all right?"

The thought of speaking was too much, and he just shook his head. Even lying seemed like too much trouble. Not that Sam would believe him anyway.

He heard Sam move closer and shift his weight back and forth. Finally, he said, "Is it okay if I touch you?"

Gabriel ran the request past his internal reactions and, to his surprise, realized it was actually okay. More than okay. He wanted physical contact, and he thought he could accept it. What a change from earlier. Castiel's healing had made a big difference in some areas.

He nodded, expecting Sam to put a hand on his shoulder or the like. To his pleasant surprise, instead the younger Winchester gently scooted Gabriel forward and settled in behind him, providing a warm Sam backrest.

And that wasn't all. As soon as he'd found a comfortable position, he wrapped gentle arms around Gabriel and pulled him against his chest. Gabriel gave a sigh of pleasure and leaned his head back against Sam. This was exactly what he'd wanted without even knowing it.

They sat in silence for several minutes, Gabriel almost drifting off to sleep. However, a prickle of anxiety poked at him, and he finally examined it.

Why was Sam being so cuddly? It seemed out of character, even for the Winchester who was reasonably in touch with his emotions.

Angels could read the emotions of non-angels, but it had been a long time since Gabriel had opened himself up to other emotions. He'd put up an impenetrable wall during his time in captivity, and as much as Asmodeus tried, he'd never been able to break it down. Letting Cas and Castiel in had been no problem; they were brother angels. But could he lower the wall just enough to get a read on Sam?

He thought he could and carefully opened a tiny crack in his shielding. Immediately, he got a metaphorical face full of the emotional stink of this world. Ugh. This place really was awful.

It took more effort than he liked, but he was finally able to narrow his focus to block out everything except the warm pulse of Sam's emotions.

Oh, this wasn't good. Not good at all.

Sam's emotions were like a layer cake, albeit one that combined tasty chocolate and rotting eggs. On top was Sam's relief that Gabriel was alive. That was nice. He also sensed Sam's acceptance of himself as he'd revealed in their nighttime conversation.

Under that, however, was a mire of guilt, shame, lack of self-worth and pain. Not so nice.

That was all to be expected, though, and none of it surprised Gabriel. One conversation wasn’t enough to heal years worth of trauma. Unexpected, however, was the tiny shoot of love for for a certain archangel, a shoot that was trying to grow through the swamp of Sam Winchester's emotions.

Gabriel was so screwed. He knew he wasn't ready to deal with that.

While Gabriel had engaged in lots of varied sex during his millennia on Earth--he'd had an unofficial goal of taking hedonism to a new level--he'd never been in love. Even his affair with Kali had been more like mutual respect spiced with a lot of really great sex.

He loved his brothers, of course, but that wasn't the same thing at all.

Had people been in love with him? Sure. You didn't spend centuries as a god without amassing love and devotion. However, all that love had been one-sided.

Sam Winchester was something else entirely. Gabriel suspected he could easily fall in love with the Hunter, and that had the potential to lead to all kinds of problems. He'd had some vague plan of seducing Sam into a delightful affair with no strings attached. He was pretty sure he could have handled a few weeks of wild monkey sex, while locking away his own growing affection. Then once it had run its course, he'd wing off to his next adventure. That was before he’d agreed to lead the battle against Michael, but he could have worked with that.

But if Sam returned the emotion? Oh, that was going to make it much harder to walk away from.

"Gabe?" Sam asked, interrupting his thoughts. "You still with me?"

Gabriel considered his words carefully. They needed to talk, but he didn't feel up to having this conversation out loud. However, he did have an idea.

"Yeah, Sam. Need to talk to you. Angel radio can be tuned to humans. You okay with that?"

Sam's answer was a pleasant rumble against his back. "You mean like telepathy?"

Gabriel nodded.

"Uh, yeah, sure. I guess." He sounded willing but uncertain.

Gabriel concentrated for a moment, focusing on Sam's emotions and linking them to his own frequency. There. He had it.

_You reading me, Sam?_

_Yes?_ came the hesitant reply.

_You can speak out loud if that's easier for you._

"Oh, yeah. That is. Thanks."

Gabriel "heard" Sam in a sort of stereo. There were the spoken words layered with the richness that came from mind-to-mind contact. It went both ways. He was going to have to be careful that his emotional undertones didn't come through too clearly to Sam, who was intuitive enough to interpret most of them.

"Are you speaking Enochian?" Sam asked.

_Yes. Good catch, big guy. It works that way. I can speak in the language that's easier for me right now, and you hear it in English._

"So Castiel's healing was only partial?"

_Pretty much. You don't just wipe away the sorts of things that happened to me. Even angels need to process that stuff, or it comes back to bite you in the ass later._

Sam gave him a brief hug. "Sorry. I know how much that sucks. Been dealing with that sort of thing for years."

Okay, this was not going the way it was supposed to. Time to get to the topic at hand. _Sam, you know I'm not the best person for you to fall in love with, right?_

"What? No...I'm not...Well, okay, maybe." Sam paused and then added, in a small voice, "How'd you know?"

Wow. Quite a rush of emotion along with that. He tried to ignore how much he enjoyed it.

_Umm, Sam. Archangel. Been around for millennia, remember? Seen a lot._

Sam didn't answer right away. Finally, he said, "Yeah, but...well... Look, I guess I hadn't really realized it until I thought you were going to die. Then it kind of hit me, you know. Anyway, I get that you don't feel the same way, and that's okay. I'm not gonna expect anything from you. I haven't really had time to sort it all out anyway."

Oh, that last was a total lie. The green shoot might still be tiny, but it had firm roots. Now, how to pull it out without causing too much damage?

 _Not buying it, kiddo. I can read emotions, you know, and I know what I'm seeing. Look, I get it. I'm terribly handsome, and you're guessing the sex will be fantastic._ Oh, wait a minute. Squash that budding panic attack. Clearly needed to work through some Asmodeus-related issues before _that_ was going to happen. Not that it was going to happen with Sam now. That would send entirely the wrong message.

"No, it's not about the sex. Really," Sam protested.

Keep it light. _Then you clearly haven't thought about it enough. Hello! Millennia, remember? Lots of experience, no shame and basically no filters._ There. That sounded appropriately Tricksterish. He could get through this. Pay no attention to how this entire conversation was causing an ache in the region of his heart.

Sam shifted position and gripped Gabriel a bit tighter. The archangel told himself very firmly that he needed to move away. This proximity was dangerous. Too bad his body wasn't on board with that.

He stayed right where he was.

"Stop, Gabe," Sam said. "Look, I get what you're doing. Make a big joke about it. Distract me and move on. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything from you, and I won't embarrass you about it, but I can't just turn off what I'm feeling. I don't even want to. It's been too long since I felt anything this pure and uncomplicated."

Uncomplicated? What the heck? How was that even possible?

_Sam, we're different species!_

Sam laughed. "You're talking to the guy whose big brother cuddled up to your little brother."

_Yeah, but he's a seraph. I'm an archangel. It's different._

"How?"

Well, wasn't that annoying? Gabriel had no good answer to that one. This was getting out of hand. Even having this conversation over angel radio was still tiring. He needed to get out of this before he let something slip that he shouldn't. Time for a different approach.

_Do I have to remind you that I just volunteered to fight a war? Hell, I just volunteered to lead this war. Your timing could be better._

Sam didn't sound deterred. "I know all that. Like I said, I'm not expecting anything from this. And when it's over, and you wing off to wherever you go, I'll deal with it then."

That should have worked. Sam was usually the rational Winchester who could be made to see reason.

Gabriel was trying to figure out his next move when Sam added, "By the way, I notice you're still using me as a back rest." His tone was knowing and sly.

Uh oh. Gabriel stopped trying to figure out a way out of this for a moment. Was he doing this wrong? Was it time to give it up? Admit that this wasn't in the slightest bit a one-sided attraction? That Gabriel was having a tough time even having this conversation?

 _I heard that,_ came Sam's gentle thought. Warm hands wrapped around his stomach, and it felt so damned good. Did he really want to fly away from this?

_Heard that too._

Oh, shit. He hadn't guarded any of that, had he?

"Nope. I'm on to you, now." Hands moved from his stomach to card through his hair.

Oh, well, he'd been caught by this particular Winchester for some time, if he was going to be honest with himself. He made sure not to let that particular thought through. No need to give Sam any more ammunition than he already had.

_Okay, you win. I will graciously allow you to worship me and cease my efforts to convince you otherwise._

Sam laughed a pleasant rumble against his back. "You're such a fraud, you know that?" His tone was full of affection.

_Guilty. Although I prefer "con man." It's more in line with the Trickster persona._

He couldn't quite keep the light tone going. There was one more thing he needed to share with Sam.

The Winchester's hands stopped their soothing motion through his hair.

_No. Don't stop that._

"But there's something, isn't there? I felt the shift in your emotions."

Gabriel sighed, and, with great reluctance, sat up and turned around to face Sam. His back felt cold almost immediately. _Yes. I'm not going to be able to beat Michael without help._

Sam nodded, met his eyes for exactly the amount of time he could stand--how could he judge that precisely?--and said, "I know. We're with you. It's not like this is our first time going up against an archangel. Not a chance we’d let you do this yourself."

_I'm not discounting you. To the contrary, I’m counting on all of you. But the fact remains that I'm going to be taking on the brunt of the fight against Michael, while Jack will likely be dealing with the other Nephilim. And the rest of you will be dealing with the other angels._

"What are you saying?"

From the horrified undertones Gabriel was feeling from Sam, he thought the man already knew the answer and just didn't want to say it.

_We need Lucifer._

"No!"

Gabriel reached out and took Sam's hands in his own. _I know what Lucifer did to you. Believe me. He's the last angel I'd want to ally with, but he's what we've got. We need a second archangel to pull this off. My Michael is completely loony tunes in the Cage. Raphael is gone. Lucifer is all we have left._

"Are you sure about Raphael?" Unspoken was "we thought you were dead too."

_I'm certain. Before I decided to throw my hat into the ring during that Apocalypse, I looked for him. I'm the master at hiding. Raphael had no more than a tenth of my ability. If he'd been hiding, I'd have found him. Trust me on this._

Sam sighed and squeezed Gabriel's hands. "Dean would tell me that there's no way I should ever trust you, but I do. If you say this is what we need, then, we'll figure out how to get Lucifer on our side."

Bless this Winchester.

"As long as I don't have to let him ride me," Sam added.

Gabriel found the words for this. "Definitely not."

Sam startled at the sound of Gabriel's voice. The archangel sensed that he'd gotten his message across.

Sam tilted his head to one said. "What did happen to you, anyway?"

Panic surged through Gabriel at the question, and he shook his head. _Not now. I promise I will tell you, but not now._

Sam nodded and drew him back against his chest. "Okay. Sorry. When you're ready."

_Before all this goes down, I promise._

Sam held him close, as if he were afraid Gabriel would fly away. "No, really, It's okay. Not until you can."

_Thank you._

They sat there for a few minutes, both caught up in their own thoughts. Gabriel deliberately didn't peek in on either Sam's emotions or thoughts.

A rustle from a few yards away brought them both to their feet. Gabriel's sword slid into his hand while Sam pulled his pistol from his waistband.


	19. Chapter 19

The "rescue" of Jack and Mary turned out to be an anti-climax. When they arrived near the camp, Jack was waiting for them.

"Cas!" Jack said, running toward the angel to give him a huge hug. He moved next to Dean, who hugged the kid back. His time in this world had obviously not eliminated his sweet nature, or his love for hugs.

Hugs done, Jack motioned to Ketch. "Who is this?"

Dean didn't want to go into details here, so he settled for just saying, "He's helping us out."

Jack nodded and motioned in the direction of where they had left Sam and Gabriel. "I felt Cas and knew you were coming. But there's another angel up there. Who is it?"

"That's your uncle," Cas said.

Jack tilted his head, brow furrowing. "Uncle means the brother of my father, right? Since all angels are brothers to each other, doesn't that mean they are all my uncles? But you seem to be saying this one is special. Why?"

Dean managed to suppress a laugh, just barely. Jack's logic was flawless and completely adorable. Ketch caught his eye, and gave him a quick wink. Apparently the Brit was also being charmed by the young Nephilim.

"Gabriel is an archangel, which makes him more of your uncle than the rest of the angels," Cas was explaining.

"Oh," Jack said. "Then I would like to meet him. Shall we go to him?"

"Hold up, tiger," Dean said. "Is my mom here?"

"Oh, yes," Jack said. "I'm sorry. I should have taken you to her right away. Follow me."

They followed Jack through the camp. Dean didn't like the way the rebels were looking at them, especially Cas. It was like they knew he was an angel. He touched his pistol, just for the reassurance of its presence.

While everyone was suspicious of Dean, Cas and Ketch, they all had a wave and a kind word for Jack. It appeared the kid was a camp favorite.

Finally, they approached a small hut. Jack walked to the door and knocked. "Mary. Dean is here, just like I told you he would be."

The door opened, and Mary Winchester rushed through, happy tears flowing down her face. She gave Dean a long hug, and even gave Cas a brief squeeze.

Then she saw Ketch, who had been deliberately standing a few feet away from the others.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Mary asked.

"Easy, Mom," said Dean. "He's actually been fairly helpful. And he brought us some additional firepower, of sorts."

She gave him a questioning frown.

Dean glanced around at the busy camp. "Is there someplace we can talk without being overheard?"

Mary nodded and motioned everyone into her hut. It was cramped with the five of them crowded in it, and there were only two chairs, but Dean, Cas and Ketch hunkered down on the floor without comment.

"What kind of fire power?" she asked when everyone was settled. Dean noticed she didn't let her attention move from Ketch.

"An archangel, Gabriel," Cas said.

Frowning, Mary asked Dean, "You mean the one who killed you more than a hundred times to teach Sam a lesson?"

Oh. Dean hadn't realized Sam had told her that story.

"Yeah, that's the one," he said.

"And you trust him?" she asked.

"No," Dean answered. "But we'll use him as long as we can."

He could feel Cas' disapproval at his words, but the angel only said, "My brother can train Jack, and he has volunteered to help lead our efforts."

"And this is a good idea why?" Mary said, obviously unconvinced by his words.

Cas shrugged. "Once he has healed, my brother is powerful." He turned to face Dean. "You only know his Trickster aspect, but I have fought at his side. He is an excellent warrior and strategist."

Dean couldn't help making a scoffing sound at that. He'd believe that when he saw it and no earlier. Then he remembered Gabriel's shooting at their rescue, and he felt less certain.

"Healed?" Jack asked. "My uncle is hurt?"

Ketch finally spoke. "Asmodeus had him chained and tortured him for his grace. I liberated him and brought him to the bunker."

Jack shifted in his seat, looking as if he wanted to go to Gabriel immediately.

"Look, time's a' wasting. The Rift won't stay open forever. Why don't we go back to our world and sort all this there?" Dean said.

Mary was shaking her head before Dean stopped speaking. "I'm not going back."

"What?" Dean exclaimed.

She motioned to the camp outside. "I've been helping Bobby here, and I want to stay. You said this Gabriel needs to heal and train Jack. Maybe we can buy you enough time."

"But..." Dean didn't have the words to express the depth of his disappointment.

"If you will have me, Mary, I would like to stay as well," Ketch said.

Mary started to speak, probably in disagreement, but Dean hastily said, "That's probably not a bad plan."

Mary whirled to face her son, eyes blazing.

"No, hear me out, Mom." He wasn't happy to leave her here, but he actually kind of trusted Ketch to keep an eye on her. "He's got good reason to stay here, and if he's working with you, you'll be able to keep an eye on him."

"What reason?" She pointedly asked Dean, not Ketch.

"Asmodeus is hunting him. We figure the Prince didn't take the theft of his pet archangel too kindly."

Mary considered for a moment before nodding her head. She looked unhappy but resigned.

A moment later, her expression softened. "How's my Sammy?"

Dean smiled at her. "He's waiting for us about a mile away. Want to see him before we go?"

"Absolutely." She paused and then added, "Why didn't he come too?"

"He's keeping an eye on Gabriel." From what Sam had said when he thought Gabriel might die, Dean wondered if 'keeping an eye on him' was what was actually happening, but there was no need to go into that.

Mary got an odd look on her face, like she was torn between pride in her youngest and maternal anger that he'd been left with the archangel who had so hurt him. However, all she said was, "Then let's go. Bobby wants me to train some new recruits in an hour or so."

"It'll take us longer than that to get there and back again," Dean said. "Might want to let him know you'll be delayed."

"I can teleport us there," Jack said.

Everyone turned to look at him. "All of us? You know where to go?" Dean asked.

Jack considered for a moment. "Yes. I think I can take you all in one trip. And it's easy to find my uncle. His grace is very distinct.”

Dean's heart sank. If Gabriel were so easy to find, had they left Sam next to a "Come and get us" beacon for other angels?

Cas seemed to follow his thoughts. "Don't worry, Dean. Gabriel is shielding his grace, but, because of his parentage, Jack's grace will have an affinity with Gabriel's. Thus, he can sense him. The other angels here won't be able to see through the shield."

Dean wasn't convinced. "Well, let's get moving, just to be on the safe side." He turned to Jack. "Kid?"

Jack nodded and said, "Everyone form a circle around me, with your hands on my shoulders."

They did so. Jack concentrated for a moment, and they winked out to appear...somewhere else.

Sam and Gabriel were not to be seen.

Dean started to swear, but Jack smiled. "I landed us close by. I thought it might be impolite to land unannounced in front of them."

"Which way?” Mary asked.

Jack pointed, and they all moved off. Sure enough, in less than five minutes, they came upon Sam and Gabriel, back to back, gun and archangel blade ready.

"Really, guys?" Dean said. "Overreacting much?"


	20. Chapter 20

Dean watched Sam hug their mom, looking like he was never going to let her go.

Ketch kept his distance, which was probably a good idea. Mary didn't seem like she was going to warm up to him anytime soon.

Jack hesitantly walked up to Gabriel and said, "You are my uncle?"

Gabriel nodded, and Dean had a hard time getting a read on his expression.

Jack carefully stepped closer and put his arms around Gabriel. The archangel hugged him back, hard and said something. Dean didn't understand it but was pretty certain it was in Enochian.

Jack pulled back but didn't completely break the embrace. "I don't understand that."

"First thing I teach you will be your native tongue." Gabriel's voice was rough, and Dean finally got it. The archangel was struggling to hold back tears. This was his nephew, the son of his once-beloved elder brother. Dean imagined in some way, it was like getting Lucifer back.

In that moment, he felt himself start to warm up to Gabriel. He'd still keep an eye on him, but anyone who loved his family that much couldn't be all bad in Dean's book.

"No way, Mom!"

Ah. She must have told Sam she was staying behind.

He noticed that, although Gabriel didn't let go of his nephew--simply shifting his hold on Jack to just one arm--the archangel's attention was completely focused on Sam.

"I know, Sammy, but it's for the best. I can do more good here."

"But..." Sam moved his hands, indicating the world around them.

Mary interpreted Sam's gesture and said, "I'll be in as much danger in your world. Maybe more."

Dean didn't miss the way she'd said "your world" instead of "our world."

Gabriel's attention didn't shift in the slightest. Dean wasn't sure what that meant.

Sam looked like he was going to argue the point, but then he seemed to notice Gabriel's attention. He made a subtle waving-off hand motion--Dean only noticed it because he was looking straight at his brother--and the archangel relaxed. Slightly.

Jack gave his uncle a curious look.

"Sam," Ketch said. "If it makes you feel any better, I will watch her back."

Dean smirked to himself. _Watch her back_ made it sound like they would be siblings-in-arms instead of him protecting her. Way to not piss off Mary.

Sam looked somewhat mollified. "Thank you, Ketch.”

Mary looked like she was going to argue the point, but then she caught the eyes of both her sons and seemed to think better of it.

As she glanced between them, she finally noticed Gabriel, who was still holding Jack. She marched right up to him.

"You're this Gabriel I've heard about from Sam and Dean?"

Jack answered her. "Yes, this is my uncle. I'm glad to finally meet more of my family."

Dean noticed a subtle gleam in Gabriel's eyes. He didn't think the archangel had prompted Jack, but nor did it seem as if he was going to protest the save.

That seemed to take some of the wind out of Mary's sails. Jack could be so darned cute that he unconsciously diffused awkward situations.

"Well, you take care of my boys, you hear?" was what she finally managed to say.

"I will," Gabriel said, his eyes cutting over to Sam first but then including Dean as well.

Okay. Something had happened while they'd been separated. Dean wondered if the Winchester family had just grown by one. He wasn't quite certain how to take that.

At that moment, Cas put a hand on his forearm. Dean looked at the angel, who had a faint smile on his lips. He looked at Gabriel and then back at Dean.

Oh, yeah. The Winchester family had definitely increased by one. While he didn't like it yet, he decided to see what happened before forming a final opinion.

Mary gave Gabriel a considering look but then nodded and said, "Come here, Dean. One more hug before you all head back."

Both Sam and Dean hugged their mom for as long as they thought they could get away with. Even Cas received a hug.

Finally, their goodbyes had been said, and there was nothing more except to watch Mary and Ketch head back to the rebel camp.

No one said anything for several minutes while the Winchester men processed their grief.

Finally, Dean said, "Well, let's get back before the Rift closes and leaves us here forever."

A look of horror crossed Sam's face, and Dean instinctively looked around for the threat.

"What is it, Sam?"

"Castiel teleported us here from that safe house. I have no idea where the Rift is now."

Before Dean could even start to freak out, Gabriel pointed and said, "11.6 miles that way."

Everyone looked at him, except Jack, who was still nestled comfortably in Gabriel's one-armed hug.

Gabriel shrugged, "It was opened with my grace." He looked down at Jack, eyes crinkling in affection. "Think you can find it and take us there, Padawan?"

Jack frowned. "I don't understand that reference."

Gabriel gave Cas a mock scowl. "Neglecting my nephew's education?"

Sam's expression lightened at the banter.

"I promise we’ll start Bunker movie night," Dean said. "But first, can we get home?"

Jack screwed up his face in concentration for a moment before brightening. "I have it, Uncle!"

Gabriel motioned for everyone to gather around Jack. "Take us there, kid."

One blink, and the Rift pulsed and shifted before them. They wasted no time hurrying through to the Bunker.

Gabriel went through last, and as he crossed the boundary, he inhaled deeply. The Rift collapsed, and a trickle of grace flowed into the archangel. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he looked stronger.

Sam's mouth almost dropped open. "I didn't know you could do that."

Gabriel shrugged. "It's my grace. Might as well take it back."

"I wish we'd known that when it closed last time," Sam said.

Gabriel turned to leave. "I need some me time."

Dean noticed the stricken expression flash across his brother's face.

Gabriel turned and gave Sam a reassuring smile. "Going to my room. Not leaving the Bunker. Asmodeus is still out there, and I'd rather stay under wards, thank you."

Dean hadn't noticed it before, but Gabriel's voice was stronger after he'd reclaimed the grace from the Rift.

Sam nodded. "Sleep well, Gabe."

Dean frowned. Still with Gabe? When had that become a thing?


	21. Chapter 21

Sam tried to sleep, but it wasn't easy. Apparently going to Apocalypse World brought all the old nightmares back in full force.

Dean dying. Lucifer yelling. Cas dying. Michael yelling at Lucifer. Lucifer reacting to Michael's yelling by raping and then ignoring Sam.

After a few hours of that, he gave up and got out of bed. He put on a pair of jeans and decided not to bother with a shirt.

In the kitchen, he vacillated between warm milk and coffee. Checking the time--4 am--he decided on coffee. There wasn't enough time to go back to sleep anyway.

Cradling his mug of coffee, he sat at the table and tried to order his thoughts into something he could make sense of.

Gabriel apparently was attracted to him? When had that happened? A delighted frisson of anticipation went through him at the thought. He'd been occasionally a bit envious of his brother having his own angel, and Sam had enjoyed a few dreams of Gabriel. Although considering that he’d thought Gabriel dead, he'd always felt guilty about them. He wasn't yet sure how to process that dreams might become reality.

So that part was good. However, then there was Lucifer. That part was so not good. If Gabriel was going to enlist Lucifer's aid against Michael, that implied Sam was going to have to actually work with him. Seeing him last year had been hard enough, and he'd had to restrain himself from reacting badly. But working with him? Sam wasn't honestly sure he was going to be able to handle that.

And then there was Mom staying behind. On the one hand, he got it. This world wasn't really her world anymore and hadn't been since Amara brought her back. But he still wanted her. He'd been deprived of his Mom by Azazel, and seriously, was it asking too much to have his Mom, at least for a little while?

He heard footsteps and glanced up from his coffee to see Gabriel shuffling into the kitchen.

"Seriously, kid, can you keep it down? I was trying to sleep."

He wandered over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. He then proceeded to stir most of the remaining sugar into it.

Gabriel sat down opposite Sam, who realized he hadn't felt any emotion from the archangel since they'd gotten back to the Bunker. Now that he was aware of it, he missed it.

Gabriel sighed, downed about half the mug of coffee and reached out a hand to touch Sam's forearm.

The connection between them hummed back into life, and Sam relaxed muscles he hadn't even realized had been tense.

"I don't do this for just anyone, you know," Gabriel said.

"I get that." He paused, then added. "I notice you're speaking with your voice today." He tried to make it clear that he wasn't pressing for details Gabriel wasn't willing to share.

Gabriel nodded and drank more coffee.

It was exactly like Dean before coffee. What was the old saw? You married your mother? Since Dean was the closest he had at this point, Sam supposed that made a sick sort of sense.

Gabriel snickered, which had been the reaction Sam had been hoping for. "Straight to marriage, Sam? No date? No flowers?"

Sam shrugged and gave him an easy grin, glad the mood had lightened a bit. "Want more coffee?" he asked.

Gabriel handed over his empty mug without hesitation. Sam took it and got up to pour more for both of them. "I think you ran us out of sugar."

Gabriel raised a hand and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened.

Exasperation flared down their connection.

Sam hurriedly said, "Never mind. Now that I remember, I'm pretty sure Dean got more the last time he went shopping."

Gabriel perked up at that. "Dean-o shops? How domestic of him. I thought he existed on bad take out."

Sam opened the cupboard, found the fresh bag of sugar and filled the tin. "Not since we moved here. He's actually become quite a good cook. If you're nice to him, he might be talked into making you breakfast."

The angel looked as if he was weighing the pros and cons of being nice to Dean. "We'll see," was all he said.

Sam returned to the table with two full mugs, the sugar tin and a fresh spoon. He winced when Gabriel repeated the sugar performance from earlier.

After downing half of that cup, the angel sat up a bit straighter. "Look, I know this whole working with my brother thing blows, and if you've got any better ideas, I'm all ears."

Sam shook his head. "No, if I had a better idea, we'd have already tried it. Going up against Michael is one thing. Going up against insane, power mad Michael is something else entirely."

"Exactamundo!"

"But, assuming we can find and talk to your brother, can you convince him to help us?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Lucifer is a loose cannon these days, so nothing's certain, but I'll come up with something between now and then."

Jack walked in at that moment. He'd cleaned himself up after Apocalypse World and looked reasonably content. "You're talking about my father?" he asked.

Gabriel motioned him to sit beside him. Jack complied, and the archangel put an arm over his shoulders. "That we are."

Sam felt contentment and affection across their connection. He smiled inwardly. The youngster was going to be good for Gabriel.

"My father is bad and has done bad things." Jack glanced over at Sam. "Like to Sam. I don't want to be like him."

Gabriel pulled him closer. "You won't be."

Jack tilted his head to look at his uncle. "How can you be sure? My father is the Devil, and I'm his son. I've heard that sons are often very like their fathers."

Gabriel winked at Sam. "Not all the time."

Sam winked back, and Jack smiled uncertainly.

"I'm sure because I know what my brother was like before he Fell,” Gabriel said. Would you like to hear?"

Jack brightened. "That's right. You knew him a long time ago. What was he like?"

Sam was interested too. From Gabriel's tone of voice, it was obvious he had good memories of Lucifer. He was curious what those might be.

"Michael is the oldest of us, of course. But Lucifer was second. He was around for millennia before our Father created Raphael and then me. Michael took Raphael under his wing and taught him as he had taught Lucifer before him. Lucifer, then, was the one who raised me. He taught me to fly."

Sam could both see and feel the wonder at that memory. This was a side of Lucifer he'd never dreamed of 

"He also taught me to fight. Michael taught me strategy, but your father taught me to use my grace in battle, how to use my blade, and--" He faltered for a moment.

"And what?" Jack asked, joy lighting up his face.

"He also taught me how to use my grace to form duplicates." Gabriel's tone was flat now, but he continued. "He could never master the trick himself, but he figured out how I could do it."

Jack expression went solemn, and he said, "Thank you. I appreciate you telling me some good stories about my father. But I'd still rather have Castiel as my dad."

Gabriel ruffled Jack's hair. "Cas is a fine dad for you. I can't think of anyone I'd rather have raising my nephew."

Cas and Dean walked in right then. Sam watched his brother's eyes flick to Jack and Gabriel. Sam wasn't sure what his brother was thinking, but he knew Dean well enough to recognize acceptance of something when he saw it.

"It's too damned early for you all to be up," Dean said. "Did I miss the memo?"

Cas sat down on the other side of Jack, and Sam had to smile at the sight of the angel family all together.

"Brother, you haven't had one of Dean's egg sandwiches," Cas said. "They are very good."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "I think I remember Sam mentioning them." He caught Dean's eye over the counter, where the elder Winchester was starting more coffee to brew. "What does a slightly used archangel/former Trickster have to do to get one of these supposedly-deserving-to-be-in-Heaven delicacies?"

Dean eyed him over the brewer. Sam held his breath. Dean's moods had been unpredictable of late, and he wasn't in the mood to mediate between them. He also discovered an odd possessive protectiveness growing within him.

 _Wasn't I supposed to be the one protecting you?_ Gabriel sent. Sam heard the amusement in the mental message, although his outward expression hadn't changed from the carefully neutral mask he'd put on when asking Dean for a breakfast sandwich.

Sam ignored the jibe, ready for the explosion he feared was coming.

To his surprise, all Dean said was, "Please works."

Gabriel smiled. "May I please have a sandwich?"

Sam continued to hold his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Cas doing the same.

Dean nodded. "Sure. How many you want? Cas usually eats three." He walked to the fridge and got out a huge carton of eggs.

Sam started breathing again.

Gabriel waggled his eyebrows and said, "Can't let my baby brother out do me. I'll take four."

Smiling, Dean started cracking eggs.

_I can behave, Sam. When I have sufficient motivation._

Sam suppressed a grin, which slid off his face quickly when he had a sudden thought.

_No, Cas doesn't do this with Dean. You're in the clear. No hidden conversations._

Glancing around quickly to make sure no one had seen his sudden expression change, Sam thought, very clearly, _It's really annoying when you do that._

_You were the one who wanted the link back. Can't have it both ways._

Good point.

_I'll try not to be too obnoxious about it._

Like that was even possible.

"Hearing" a mental chuckle was a decidedly odd experience.

"Sammy!"

Dean's voice brought him back to the kitchen.

"What? Sorry. Didn't get much sleep last night." He looked down and realized there was a sandwich in front of him.

Dean was just sliding a sandwich onto Cas' plate. Sam noticed Gabriel was eating his. With an expression that looked like he was in the middle of the best orgasm of his life.

Well, there were a few downsides to dating Gabriel.

"I was asking what the plan was. We're back. Gabriel said he'd train Jack, which is a good start, but what else do you think we need to be doing?"

Sam didn't hesitate with his answer. "Kill Asmodeus."

He felt Gabriel's emotional recoil at that blunt statement.

Dean was shaking his head and cracking a egg into the skillet. "I don't know, Sam. While he's one of the bigger dicks around right now, he's keeping Hell busy. Not sure we need demon distractions on top of everyone else."

"I do know. Asmodeus needs to go." Gabriel's emotions roiled even more at that statement, and Sam decided there wasn't much point pretending he and Gabriel weren't getting involved. He stood up, went to the other side of the table and politely nudged Jack to make room. Jack moved willingly enough. Sam sat down, put an arm around Gabriel and pulled the terrified archangel in close.

No one really reacted. All Dean did was nod, as if he'd been expecting it, and cracked another egg.

Sam wasn't exactly sure how to intentionally project emotions, but he gathered up what he could and deliberately sent _comfort/protection/possessiveness_ followed with a big helping of _no one fucks with my archangel_.

He felt Gabriel slowly calm. His body, which had been shaking, stilled, and he leaned into Sam's side. Gratitude mixed with approval came back over their link.

And to prove that he was still Gabriel, he followed it up with _That was oddly hot, big guy._

Sam felt himself blush, but he said, "We need to eliminate him. Gabriel needs to train Jack, and he can't do that if he's stuck in the Bunker. Plus, Asmodeus needs to pay for what he did."

He felt Cas' eyes on him, the angel's expression approving.

Dean opened his mouth, and Sam thought he was going to continue to protest, but then he shook his head, flipped over an egg and asked, "All right, then. How do we do this?"

No one spoke for several minutes. Finally Gabriel said, "Only way I can think of is to set a trap."

Sam couldn't help it. He had to close his eyes against the surge of fear, anger, remembered pain and determination that flowed into him.

"And there's only one bait that will bring him running," Gabriel continued. "Me."

"No!" The word burst out of him before he even knew he'd said it.

Gabriel turned in Sam's embrace to look him in the eye. Sam noted that he still couldn't maintain eye contact for very long. "It's the only way, Sam. If we're going to kill him, and I think you're right, this is the only way." 

"I agree with my brother," Cas said, sounding like the words were being pulled from him along with his toenails.

"He's right, Sam," Dean said.

"What about me instead?" Jack asked.

Gabriel said "No" even faster than Sam had earlier, and the younger Winchester agreed with him.

"No, Jack," Sam said. "You're powerful, sure, but still basically untrained. The rest of us have years more experience with this."

Cas stood up and went to a nearby shelf, where he ripped off a big sheet of butcher's paper, which Dean had bought on a whim and still hadn't used. He laid it out on the table and looked around for a marker. Dean tossed him one he kept on the counter "just in case."

Cas started drawing. "There's an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town." He quickly sketched out the building layout. "We put Devil's traps here and here--" He indicated the positions with rough circles. "Whichever way he enters the building, if we are positioned here--" He added several Xs to the drawing. “—he'll have to walk over one of them."

Gabriel stood up and moved over to the drawing, shaking his head, his expression tight and focused. "No good. He'll see them. It's an _abandoned_ warehouse. There's no way to cover them."

"Draw them on the ceiling, then," Sam added.

Gabriel nodded. "That might work." He motioned for Cas to hand him the marker. "I'll be here, cowering on the floor, looking weak and helpless."

Sam tried not to think about how little grace Gabriel still had. Almost absently, Gabriel reached over the table and stroked Sam's forearm soothingly.

Dean brought over another plateful of sandwiches and placed them well away from the paper. His eyes flicked over the rough drawing. Pointing at the map, he indicated two other positions. "Sam and I can be here and here." He shook his head and pointed to a doorway which left Asmodeus a way out. "We need someone here, and we're running out of people."

Jack spoke, "Uncle, how fast can you teach me some quick and dirty techniques for dealing with a demon Prince?"

Gabriel started to protest but then looked at the map. Sam hated the idea, but he couldn't see an alternative. Blocking that entrance with junk would potentially warn Asmodeus that something was amiss.

Gabriel's mouth tightened as if he were eating something unpleasant. However, he said, "Better part of a day, I think. I have a few ideas which should work and won't get you killed."

Sam was impressed at how easily they all worked together. They had never planned a job before as a unit, and they'd just come together like a team that had done this for years.

Dean moved over beside Cas. Sam thought it was ostensibly to get a different perspective on the map, but he knew how hot his brother found it when Cas was being a tactician, and he thought it was probably just an excuse to get closer to the angel. Whatever the reason, Dean finally nodded. "Not bad, everyone.”

Cas was looking at the map, his expression focused. “There might be one problem,” he said.

Sam felt _something_ down their link, and he shot a questioning look at Gabriel, who was nodding and looking faintly sick. Without thinking, he walked over to stand beside his angel.

“What?” Dean asked.

“Brother,” Cas said his tone sympathetic. “You did say that Asmodeus was shooting up your grace. I’m still not sure how he survived that. What impact, if any, does that have on our plan? What is he now?”

Dean leaned over the table, hands fisted onto the wood, almost looming in his posture. He looked to Cas and then to Gabriel. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about this?”

“Because I’m not sure what he is now,” Gabriel admitted, the words coming slowly as if he was pushing each of them out of a throat too tight for anything to pass. “Cas is right. Injecting my grace should have killed him, and I don’t know why it didn’t.”

Sam was surprised when Dean sat down, making himself smaller and non-threatening. “Okay, let’s walk through this then. I thought it was pretty weird when Ketch mentioned the grace shooting thing, but I didn’t realize it was this big a deal.”

Cas started the explanation. Sam was grateful. He could feel Gabriel struggling to maintain some sort of composure. “You’ve seen us smite demons. That’s an application of grace. Angel grace is deadly to demons. Injecting it directly into himself is obviously even more direct exposure. Gabriel’s is archangel grace, which is infinitely more powerful. Simply touching it should have destroyed him.”

Sam was thinking furiously. Angel grace was a powerful substance. It powered up angels, and so it made sense Asmodeus would want extra power. He was the weakest of the Princes of Hell, and from what he’d seen of the demon, that would rankle him. Archangel grace would be particularly attractive. So, how did he do it?

“Sam?” Dean asked. “You still with us?”

Suddenly, he thought he had it. “He’s transforming it in some way.”

“What?” Dean asked. “More importantly, how?”

Cas followed that up with, “That can’t be. The grace Ketch brought us was pure.” He looked at Gabriel. “Wasn’t it?”

Gabriel nodded absently, and Sam could feel him thinking.

“I’m on to something, aren’t I?” Sam asked.

“Perhaps,” Gabriel answered. “He enjoyed having me watch while he injected himself, so I saw it many times.” His hand moved in a deliberate series of gestures.

Cas leaned forward. “Do that again, brother.”

Gabriel did.

“I know that gesture,” Cas said, excitement in his voice. “It’s part of a purification ritual.”

Dean started to say something, probably sarcastic from his expression, but Cas continued. “It’s the reverse of the ritual.”

Sam got it. “ He’s profaning the grace before injecting it!”

Gabriel was nodding. “That would make sense. I should have seen it earlier.”

“Dude, you were kind of distracted by other things,” Dean said.  Like, you know, torture.”

Sam was amused at Dean’s attempt to be reassuring. From the bond, he knew Gabriel appreciated it as well.

“Fair point,” Gabriel noted.

“So can we work with this?” Sam said, hoping to keep everyone focused.

Gabriel nodded. “Yes.” _Although you won’t like it_

Why didn’t that surprise him?

“Dean,” Gabriel said. “If you don't mind a quick shopping trip?”

Dean raised an eyebrow.

Gabriel continued. "I know a spell that will temporarily boost my grace. It's got side effects, so it's not something I want to do very often, but Asmodeus will think he knows how powerful I'm not. If I can surprise him, so much the better. And I think it may allow me to deal with the grace problem."

"Side effects?" Sam asked.

"I'm going to be hella weak after it wears off, for at least a day, maybe longer."

Sam didn't like it, but he saw the logic. “And how will it deal with the grace problem?”

Gabriel’s mouth moved into a smile, not the nice kind. His eyes glowed blue-silver for a moment, and Sam was reminded that, under-powered or not, this was an archangel. “I’m going to ram my pure grace right up his righteously ugly ass.”

What did you say to that?

He nodded. “Okay, so Dean goes shopping. Cas? How do you want to split the rest of us up for prep work?"

Cas didn't hesitate. "Jack and Gabriel stay here for training. Sam and I go draw Devil's traps."

 "All right. I think we know what to do. Let's get on it."


	22. Chapter 22

Gabriel and Jack worked together for several hours, and finally Gabriel was as certain as he could be that his nephew could hold his own in the upcoming fight.

He'd quickly realized that telekinesis was Jack's most potent ability at the moment, and he had worked with him to refine its use. By the time they finished the training, Jack was able to hold Gabriel at bay while simultaneously lifting several objects and picking a lock.

By the time they were done, Jack was grinning. "That's amazing, Gabriel. Did you see how I was able to lift the shelf and pick the lock in just a few seconds?"

Gabriel pulled his nephew in for a one-armed hug. "I did see, Jack. You did quite well. Not that you are likely to have a reason to pick locks in the middle of a fight, but it was a good way to practice fine control along with more direct applications of force."

Gabriel wished they had more time to practice. He had a hunch the kid would be able to learn his illusion ability. Oddly, though, as many times as they tried, Jack could not summon an angel blade. He'd been sure he'd been able to teach him that.

"Where are Sam and Cas?" Jack asked, breaking free of the embrace and turning in the direction of the door to the training room.

Gabriel reached out through his link to Sam, which he had narrowed to a sliver during the training. "Seems they are done. They are about half an hour out, which gives me time to do one more thing."

Being near Jack for several hours had jump-started the regeneration of his grace, and while he was still dangerously under-powered, he thought he had enough for this.

Closing his eyes and concentrating on his link with Sam, he took a tiny portion of his grace and manipulated it.

"What are you doing, Uncle? Is that your link to Sam?"

Gabriel opened his eyes and saw that Jack was following his grace manipulations. Oh. He hadn't realized the kid could do that. "You can see that?"

Jack nodded and stepped closer, tracing a line, which was obvious to Gabriel but should have been invisible to anyone but another archangel. Which reminded him...

"I know it links you to Sam because I saw it earlier, during breakfast." He pointed to the knot of grace Gabriel had been tying around the link. "What's this, though?"

While Jack was young, Gabriel didn't see the point of hiding things from him. "It's sort of a dead man's switch."

Jack whirled, eyes widening. "You aren't planning to come back from this, are you?"

Gabriel smiled and shook his head. "You've been hanging out with Winchesters too long. You're learning their bad habits. No, I absolutely intend to come back. I promised to lead the fight against my alternate brother, didn't I?''

Jack nodded, his expression still solemn and fearful.

Gabriel motioned Jack to come closer, and he pulled his nephew in for a full hug. Jack held him close, as if afraid he'd vanish if he let go.

After a moment, Gabriel disconnected and held Jack at arm's length. "I don't plan to die, but I do have a responsibility to Sam. In the unlikely event of my death, Sam would feel it, full and in technicolor. I can't take the chance of that. Understand?"

Jack nodded. "But what if you just shut down the link before the fight?"

"Because, knowing our Sam, that would freak him out. He'd figure I was planning to do something stupid and self-sacrificing. However, what I can do is set up something to automatically break the link in the case of my imminent death. It snaps just before I die. Sam will know something is wrong, but he won't get the full experience. Make sense?"

Jack surged forward for another hug, but Gabriel felt the reluctant nod against his chest. He held Jack for another minute before saying, "Okay, kid. I need to finish this before Sam gets back."

"May I watch?"

"Sure. You might learn something."

Gabriel went back to his grace manipulations until he thought he had it right. Then he asked, "So, can you tell what I did?"

Jack examined the knot for a moment. "I think so. If it senses a lot of grace leaving your body suddenly, it will activate. Is that right?"

Gabriel was impressed. "Pretty good but not quite." He pointed to an intricate secondary knot. "This senses whether the grace is leaving my body by my command or through violence. That way, if I needed to, I could use my grace as a weapon without the switch activating."

Jack managed to look simultaneously fascinated and sickened by the idea. "I hope you don't need it."

"Me too."

He sensed Sam getting closer. "One more thing. Watch this carefully."

Jack watched as Gabriel took out another bit of grace and formed it around the link. A moment later, Jack gasped. "What happened? I can't see it any more. Did you shut it down?"

"Nope." Gabriel grinned. "I just concealed it. No one, up to and including archangels and Princes of Hell can see it now. I can't be running around with a tether to Sam that screams, "Kill one of us to fuck up the other one."

"That's good, Uncle." He paused and added. "One more question?"

"Sure."

"Do you love Sam?"

Kids and their questions. Well, he hadn't lied earlier about his plans, so he figured he owed the kid an honest answer. "Not sure yet. That's not an evasion. It's the truth. Am I strongly attracted to him? Yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have allowed the link. Is it full on love? Not sure."

Having never been in love made it hard to tell if this was it or not. He figured he'd ride this pony and see where it went. "Good enough?"

Jack nodded. "I hope you do fall in love with him. Dean and Cas are in love even though they aren't admitting it at the moment. If you and Sam are in love too, then my whole family loves each other."

Gabriel smiled and ruffled Jack's hair. "And on that note, come on. Let's go upstairs. Cas and Sam will be here in a minute."

By the time they arrived upstairs, the Bunker door was opening. Sam and Cas walked in.

"How'd the training go?" Sam asked as he walked down the circular stair. When he reached the bottom, he stood for a moment, as if uncertain what he should do next.

Gabriel took control of the situation by stepping forward and putting his hand on the small of Sam's back, gently guiding him toward what he liked to call the "War Room."

"He's good," he said in answer to Sam's question. "Kid has some pretty fine control of his telekinesis. Asmodeus' goons are going to be in for quite a surprise if they underestimate him."

"Good. Cas and I got all the Devil's traps up. As soon as Dean gets back and you do your ritual, I think we're ready."

Gabriel could feel Sam's uncertainty about the ritual and his certainty that he didn't want his angel staked out for bait. He rubbed his hand along Sam's back. "Dean's here."

"How do you know?" Sam asked.

"I can hear the Impala," Gabriel answered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Cas and Jack were nodding their agreement.

Sam's eyebrows went up. "How good is angel hearing?"

Gabriel grinned. "Let's just say that you'd better hope the sound proofing is good in your bedroom, Sam."

The blush that rose on Sam's cheeks made it all worthwhile. That and the knowing look on Jack's face. Oh, yes, the kid was definitely his nephew.

Dean stumped down the stairs, several bags in hands. His eyes took in Sam's face, the barely concealed mirth on Gabriel's, the carefully neutral expression on Cas' and the nod from Jack.

"What happened? Gabe and Sam did the nasty in the kitchen or something?"

Gabriel started laughing so hard he almost dropped the bags Dean had just handed him.

Sam's expression couldn't decide between outrage and laughter, but he finally settled on laughter. When he calmed down a bit, he said, "Not quite. Gabriel was just filling us in on angel hearing. Apparently they can hear the Impala from all the way down here."

Dean wasn't stupid. He put two and two together quickly. "Good thing I added soundproofing to my bedroom several years ago." With that, he took his remaining bag into the kitchen.

_It's tough to get one over on older brothers. Trust me, Sam, I know._

Sam just shook his head and started for the ritual room. "We gonna do this thing or what?"

Gabriel peeked into the bags, saw everything he had asked for and sobered. Oh well. Too late for second thoughts. He followed Sam.

"Need any help?" Sam asked as Gabriel started to set up the ritual by pouring goat's blood into a cauldron.

"Nope. I need to do this myself. But I wouldn't mind if you stayed."

Sam settled against a nearby shelf. "It's not like I've got a ton of other places to be right now."

"Thanks.”


	23. Chapter 23

Sam watched as Gabriel finished his preparations and examined his handiwork. "Looks right."

"What's it do, exactly?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Sort of like mainlining PCP." He gave a wry grin. "It's not called angel dust for no reason."

Sam took a step forward but stopped himself. He liked this even less, but he knew two things. One, they probably needed this. Two, it wasn't his place to tell Gabriel what he could do. Killing Asmodeus wouldn't make the trauma go away, but it would guarantee that it would never happen again.

Gabriel gave him a nod in thanks and stepped into the ritual circle. "Once I do this, I've got no more than two hours before I crash." He paused for a moment. "I just let Cas know to get ready."

Sam braced himself. The ritual didn't take long, and when the smoke cleared, Gabriel stepped out of it, wisps swirling like a dark cloak around him. His back was straight, and his stride confident. This was a Gabriel Sam had never seen before and wondered if perhaps this wasn't what the archangel had looked like during battle with the Darkness. He was glad this Gabriel was on their side.

Power surged along their link, along with a manic quality that made Sam nervous. There was no hint of the affection he usually felt. Instead, he felt as if he were in a room with a panther, all lithe moves and stalking power.

"Come on, Sam. Time’s a’wasting. Asmodeus won't know what hit him."

He bounded up the stairs so fast that even Sam's long legs were barely enough for him to keep up. Gabriel didn't stop, heading straight for the exit. "Come on, everyone. It's time to get us some Kentucky Fried demon for dinner."

Everyone gaped as Gabriel walked by, but they all had gathered gear and hurried to follow. Dean put a hand on Sam's shoulder, and they dropped to the rear of the procession. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I, Dean, but we agreed this was the best plan, flawed though it may be."

"All right, but keep an eye on him. I don't think he's got any sense of self-preservation right now." Unspoken was _and I don't want to have to put you back together if he gets his fool ass killed._

Sam gave his brother a weak smile of thanks and hurried after Gabriel.

They emerged from the Bunker just in time to see Gabriel stride over to the Impala. He waved a hand, and all four doors opened. "All aboard."

Dean lengthened his stride to get to the driver's seat, pushing Gabriel aside with possibly foolish bravado. "Not a chance. I'm the one driving Baby." He glared at the archangel. "Angels in back. My brother still gets shotgun."

Gabriel threw his head back and laughed, the sound deep and loud. Sam definitely didn't like manic quality in it, but he shoved aside his reservations and climbed into the car. The erratic surges of emotion up and down their link was distracting, but the alternative was having no idea what was going on inside Gabriel, and that would be worse.

Everyone climbed into the car, Gabriel sitting behind Dean, next to Jack. Cas sat behind Sam.

Power sparked in the confines of the Impala. Sam turned in his seat to face Gabriel. "Shield yourself, Gabe. The last thing we need is for Asmodeus to find you early."

The sense of power faded.

"That's better, brother," Cas said. From the quaver in the angel's voice, Sam could tell he was no happier about the situation than he was.

No one spoke during the drive, except once when Dean snapped at Gabriel to "Stop your damned fidgeting. You'll make me drive off the road."

Fortunately, the drive wasn't long. Everyone piled out of the Impala and moved into position. Sam crouched where he could see Gabriel, who stalked to his position and dropped to the floor.

Immediately, the predator archangel vanished, to be replaced by the cowering Gabriel who had arrived at their Bunker--seriously, was it only three days ago? Gabriel sat on the floor, hunched over, arms over his knees, which curled protectively against his body. If Sam hadn't been able to feel the coiled power through their link, he would have thought the spell had already worn off.

"He's dropping the shield," came Cas' voice from his position on the other side of the warehouse. "Get ready."

It didn't take long, but these things never do. Less than ten minutes after Gabriel dropped his shield, demons started appearing in the warehouse. Sam surprised himself by feeling relief, but it made sense. No more waiting. His fear had been that Asmodeus would take too long to make an appearance, and that Gabriel's power up would have worn off.

The demons fanned out, attempting to encircle Gabriel, who shakily forced himself to his feet, preparing to back away, into the room with the traps.

Asmodeus appeared then, striding with arrogant confidence into the dirty building.

"Boy! You thought you could escape me? Well, you thought wrong." He stopped and assumed a listening pose. "How cute. You brought the Winchesters and their pet angel." The Prince stood taller, on alert now. "And what's that I'm sensing? Did you really bring me the Nephilim?" A fake smile plastered on his face. "Well, boy. That might buy you a bit of forgiveness. Might stay my hand a bit."

He waved at his followers. "Kill the Winchesters and the angel. Bring me the Nephilim."

Sam felt rage burn down their link, but outwardly, Gabriel hunched his shoulders and fled to the next room. Asmodeus watched him go, his expression one of watching an unruly child trying to shirk chores.

For the next few minutes, Sam was too busy fighting demons to spare much attention for Gabriel. The link pulsed reassuringly, and he took comfort from that as he used Ruby's knife to send demons to wherever they went when they died for good.

Dean was holding his own with an angel blade, fighting with his usual grace. No demon who came near him rejoined the fight.

Cas and Jack were working together as if they had fought for centuries. Jack used his telekinesis to grab demons and toss them to Cas who alternated between his angel blade and forehead smiting.

Everything seemed under control until they weren't.

Gabriel screamed, and Sam started to panic until he realized the presence in the link was focused, with little trace of fear. Sam killed another demon and started to make his way to the room where Gabriel had lured Asmodeus.

A minute later, Sam felt satisfaction surge down the bond, and he assumed that meant the Prince had been caught in the trap. Time to move. He doubted the trap would hold Asmodeus for long, and he didn't know if Gabriel was strong enough to kill him on his own.

Two more demons down. There were only a handful now.

"Go, Sammy!" Dean yelled while he knifed another demon.

Sam nodded, killed one more demon who stumbled into his path and dashed for the room with Gabriel and Asmodeus.

Just before he ran through the door, he heard another scream from Gabriel. This one was accompanied by a surge of pain and terror.

Damn!

Sam slid into the room and paused just long enough to see what had happened.

Asmodeus was halfway through the Devil's trap. He looked like a mime trying to move through imaginary thick jelly. One arm and half his torso was through.

Gabriel must have gotten too close because that one hand was locked on his throat. Asmodeus was half-trapped and still managing to restrain a juiced up archangel.

All his emotions were yelling at him to charge in, but Sam had been a Hunter for too long. He took a precious few seconds to plan his next move.

As far as he could tell, Asmodeus hadn't noticed him. He was also off balance, although managing it well.

Sam nodded, knowing what to do.

He sent encouragement and determination down the link and charged.

Sam was a big guy, but he could move both quickly and silently when he needed to. Asmodeus never knew he was there until Ruby's knife implanted itself into his back.

He dropped Gabriel and whirled on Sam, who suddenly realized he was inside the Devil's trap with Asmodeus.

The Prince also realized this, and he smiled. He reached behind his back for the knife, but Sam darted around behind the demon, grabbed the handle, pulled it out, and, before Asmodeus could react, plunged it upward into his rib cage. Other than a grunt from Asmodeus, the knife had no other effect.

Sam was out of options.

It was then that Gabriel slid into the circle, covered Sam's hand on the knife with his own and channeled every bit of power he had within him into the knife.

The tell-tale orange light of a dying demon exploded from Asmodeus, sending both Sam and Gabriel flying backwards.

Asmodeus' meat suit dropped to the floor.

Gabriel slumped down the wall, and the link between them slowly fizzled out.

"NO!" Sam yelled.


	24. Chapter 24

Consciousness returned slowly. Awareness followed several steps behind.

Voices around him.

"Gabe! Please wake up."

"I can feel his grace."

Memory flowed like honey in winter.

_Asmodeus striding into the warehouse. Unreasoning fear at the sight of his tormentor. Searing pain shooting through what remained of his grace._

"Easy, Sammy. Cas says he'll be okay."

"I didn't realize he was going to perform _that_ ritual."

_Asmodeus breaking through the Devil's trap. Those foul hands on his throat._ _Sam and his hopeless fight with a knife that couldn't even scratch a Prince of Hell._ _Taking the debased bastard down together._

...dead man's switch..."

"But you don't understand. I can't feel anything from him."

Oh, right. The dead man's switch must have activated by accident. Gabriel had barely any grace left, but he found just enough to reactivate his connection to Sam.

_Ouch_

_Relief/fear/anger(WTF?)/pain/loss--and was that really love?--_ flowed through the link.

"Gabe?"

The archangel slowly cracked open one eye. Faces blurred around him. Cas, Dean and Jack were right side up. Sam's face was upside down. Okay. That was the soft thing he was lying on. Briefly, he considered closing his eye again and just drifting back into blackness.

_NO!_

He gathered up what scattered thoughts had returned to him like lost sheep to their flock.

_Sleep, Sam. Not the blackness you're thinking._

_Oh._

"Brother?" Cas' voice.

Several tries later, he managed, "I'll live, Cas. I just won't be happy about it for a while."

"Let's get him home."

Was that Dean who said that? Really?

And that was all he had in him. He drifted back to sleep again.


	25. Chapter 25

Sam lifted Gabriel in his arms to carry him to the car. Dean, Jack and Cas followed. He knew they were all worried about both him and Gabriel, but Sam was okay now. Mostly. At least the link was back, and he could feel that Gabriel was just soundly asleep. Nothing worse.

However, when the link had gone away after the fight, Sam had almost succumbed to unreasoning panic. He'd been so certain the archangel was dead.

Until Dean reminded him that Gabriel's wings weren't blackened on the floor and Cas said he could feel a spark of grace in his brother.

Then Jack said something about dead man's switches, but that was about the time Gabriel opened his eyes and the link returned. The only time Sam had felt anything close to that level of relief was when his brother had returned from the dead.

Right. And that should be telling him something right there. This thing with Gabriel hadn't stopped at casual, instead shooting straight to epic seriousness.

Sam claimed the entire back seat to himself, and no one argued. Jack and Cas crowded into the front seat, and Sam settled himself, Gabriel cradled against his chest.

"What was that about a dead man's switch, Jack?" Dean asked as soon as they were on the road back to the Bunker.

The young Nephilim turned to shoot Sam a questioning look. By now, Sam had figured out at least some of what might have happened, and he knew what Jack was asking.

"Go ahead. They'll figure it out eventually anyway."

"Figure out what, Sam?" Dean asked, worry in his tone.

Sam considered how to put it. Finally, he decided on, "Um, Gabriel and I have this sort of...well, I guess you'd call it a telepathic link. I can kind of...feel...his emotions, and we can communicate."

Cas' head shot around to stare at Sam. "You mean my brother has bonded you?"

Sam blinked. "Uh? I don't know? Maybe? What's that?"

Cas concentrated for a moment, and his eyes briefly glowed blue. "I don't see anything." He sounded confused.

"That's what I was trying to explain earlier," Jack said, his tone that of a teenager exasperated with how damned _slow_ adults could be.

"Go ahead," Dean said.

"Sam, just before you and Cas got back, Gabriel did two things. First, he created what he called a dead man's switch on your link. He said it would activate if he was about to die. That way you wouldn't feel his death through your link."

Oh. That was actually thoughtful of him. Aggravatingly so.

Jack continued. "Then he did something to conceal your link. That's why you can't see it, Cas. He didn't want anyone to know it was there so they could use it against you guys."

Cas' eyebrows crept up into his hairline. "I didn't know that was even possible."

"Archangel, Cas," Dean said, sounding surprisingly okay about this whole thing. What had Sam missed?

"I guess," Cas said.

Gabriel moved in his sleep, and Sam automatically adjusted his position to accommodate. "So what did you mean by 'bonding?'"

"Yeah," Dean said, in a tone that made it clear there were going to be discussions later with his own angel.

Cas paused for a moment before answering, as if figuring out the right way to explain. "Uh, it's obviously not done very often, but when an angel falls in love with a non-angel, sometimes they can form a bond where the two are linked. They can communicate, sense emotions, know rough direction and distance, and if the bond is particularly strong, the non-angel can sometimes draw power from the bonded angel."

Dean chuckled. "You mean Gabriel angel married Sam?"

"Essentially, yes," Cas answered.

"And you didn't know about it, Sam?" Dean added. "Dude, you are so whipped."

Sam found himself smiling. "Okay, yes, Dean. You now have enough ammunition to 'chick flick moment' me for the rest of our lives."

Dean shrugged. "Don't know. Kind of developed a taste for chick flicks by now." However, Sam knew his brother. The ribbing would still be endless. Oh, well. If it got too bad, he'd have his new archangel--husband? (how was this his life?)--send him off someplace unpleasant. Preferably on a plane to New Zealand.

"So other than the obvious, anything I need to know about this bond? Assuming that's really what it is?"

Cas shook his head. "Not really. It's basically a good thing. I'm just surprised Gabriel did it. As far as I know, no archangel has ever bonded anyone. It's mostly a lesser angel thing."

Sam noticed his brother shooting Cas an appraising look. Yes, there were going to be discussions later between his brother and his own angel. Which Sam was fine with. The two of them had been pining for far too long.

Sam carded his fingers through Gabriel's hair. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn't surprised. He'd suspected there was something unusual about the link they'd had. If Dean and Cas had that, his brother would have mentioned something.

Which begged the question. Why hadn't Cas bonded Dean years ago? It might have headed off the whole Mark of Cain debacle.

_Because my baby brother would have wanted an archangel blessing on it, and there weren't any around to ask._

Sam smiled. _How long have you been awake?_

_Just a minute or so. Don't tell anyone. I'm not up for a fuss. I just want to get back to the Bunker and sleep for about a week. That spell took it out of me._

Sam suppressed a chuckle at the wording, not wanting anyone to ask what was funny. _Go back to sleep. We'll be there soon_

_Aww, Sam. Are you going to tuck me in?_

_If you'd like._

A pause, and Sam thought he'd gone back to sleep. But then Gabriel asked, _Stay with me while I sleep?_ His mental voice was very small.

 _Sure?_ Then he got it. _Nightmares_.

_Yeah. Killing Asmodeus won't get rid of those. Only time._

Sam smoothed the hair on Gabriel’s forehead. He realized he was actually tired and that a nap wasn't a bad idea at all. _I'll stay with you as long as you need._

As soon as he said it, he realized he probably meant that about more than just sleeping.

_I was going to tell you about the bonding. Honest._

Sam felt his angel slip off into sleep. Yeah, he probably would have. Eventually.


	26. Chapter 26

Pain. Fire. Blood. Humiliation.

Sam didn't so much make the nightmares better as wake him up before they got too bad.

***

Except when they got too bad, too fast.

More pain. More blood.

Asmodeus snapping Sam's neck.

"Gabe. It's just a dream. Wake up."

Gabriel’s eyes snapped open, and he sighed. "How many is that now, Sam?"

"Five."

"Damn."

Soothing fingers on his forehead. "Don't worry about it. They get better eventually. Trust me on this."

Gabriel closed his eyes, still feeling incredible weakness through his entire body. At this rate, it was going to take him literal years to regenerate his grace, and they didn't have years. "Yeah, it's the 'eventually' part that has me worried. We don't have that long."

He felt Sam thinking, but couldn't quite follow it. Finally, Sam said, "Would it help to talk about it?"

Gabriel considered that. In his long years on Earth, he'd never had anyone to talk things through, so he'd gotten used to working stuff out on his own. But this was Sam. If anyone had a sense of what he'd experienced, it would be the youngest Winchester.

"Okay." He sat up. "But get behind me, okay? I don't think I can look at anyone while I'm telling this.”

Sam sat up and arranged himself behind Gabriel, who settled back against Sam's large, warm chest.

"So you've probably guessed that I didn't actually die back in that motel?"

Sam shrugged behind him. "Wasn't sure if you never died, or if you got brought back somehow. We saw God a few years ago. He said he hadn't raised you, but I learned a long time ago not to believe everything he says."

"Smart move." Gabriel paused, figuring out how he wanted to tell this. "So, I played a trick on all of you back there. Luci thought there was me and a duplicate. I let him think that because I didn't want him to think about the possibility that there were actually two duplicates."

"Clever."

Gabriel preened a bit at the praise.

"Anyway, I had to go into even more hiding after that."

"Why? Why didn't you ever tell us? Even after the Apocalypse was over? I've been wondering that ever since you showed up on our doorstep."

Gabriel couldn't speak for several minutes. There was an answer, of course, but could he even acknowledge it to Sam?

"You don't have to, if you don't want to.”

Gabriel shook his head. "No, this is kind of the point of this, isn't it? Okay, here goes. Something you probably don't know about archangels." He tapped the side of his head. "My brothers were always here, with me. Even when I went into witness protection, I could feel them in the back of my mind, and they knew I was alive, even if they didn't know where I was.

"The last thing I did when I 'died' was to cut them off. It took me pretty much the entire time between you figuring out who I was until we met at that cut-rate motel to work out how to do it. It had to be both ways. I didn't get to keep an awareness of them while they couldn't feel me."

Sam's arms tightened around him, and Gabriel couldn't help himself. He brought up his legs, wrapped his arms around his knees and curled into himself.

"I always kind of intended to show back up again when it was all over. But then you dragged two of my brothers into the Cage, and Cas exploded Raphael. Then I was truly, completely alone."

"I'm sorry," came Sam's broken whisper behind him. "I had no idea."

"I know you didn't."

"But what about the other angels? Surely you could have…"

Gabriel was shaking his head before Sam finished the sentence. "Not the same thing, Sam. Archangels were created to lead. And the one thing you don't do as a leader is chum around with your soldiers. Nope, the only ones I could connect with like that were my brothers."

They were silent for a minute. Then Sam gently touched Gabriel's head. "This thing you and I have? Is it? Does it…"

Gabriel smiled. This man was a treasure. "Does it help? Oh, yes, Sam. You have no idea."

"Good."

Gabriel picked up his story. "Anyway, once I was completely alone, well, let's just say that I wasn't really myself for quite a while. Honestly, I don't know how Asmodeus found out about me. Maybe I wasn't as careful as I thought. Probably what happened. I can't say I was completely sane in those days. Anyway, next thing I knew, I was locked in a cage, lips sewn shut and a Prince of Hell…well, riding my ass on a daily basis."

He felt Sam's shudder against his back. "Yeah. You know everything you said my big bro did to you? Well, Asshatmodeus did all that to me and maybe some stuff my brother never thought of. He always did lack a certain…imagination."

He stopped, unable to go on for a minute. Sucking air in and out, concentrating on continuing to breathe, he fought to get himself back under control.

"It's okay, Gabe. I get it. I do."

That was more than Gabriel could take. Suddenly, he turned in Sam's grip, threw his arms around the big man and started sobbing into his chest, huge, loud racking sobs that he couldn't control.

He didn't know how long he cried. Gabriel was vaguely aware at one point that Sam was telling Cas that it would be okay. They were just sorting stuff out. Talk about an understatement, but he was grateful to the man. It was bad enough to tell this to Sam. No way he could share with his baby brother.

Finally, the sobs worked themselves out, and he calmed. He lay against Sam's chest, and the big man said nothing.

After a few minutes of that, Gabriel gently pulled away. Sam let him go, although he didn't completely release his hold. "Thank you."

Sam gave him a wan smile. "I understand. You know that."

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah. That's the only reason I was able to do that."

"Feel better?"

He examined his emotions. Surprisingly, he actually did feel a bit better. He nodded.

"Ready to sleep some more?"

"Yeah, but I'm still afraid I won't get deep enough to avoid the nightmares. That may have lanced the wound, but it's still there."

Sam thought for a moment. "Want me to get Cas? You're probably still weak enough for him to put you under."

The big brother who didn't want to show weakness battled with the practical side of him that just wanted to sleep. Practicality finally won out. "Yeah. That's a good idea."

Sam gave him a quick hug and stood up. "Back in a minute."

When he was gone, the bed seemed so big and empty.

The Hunter wasn't gone long, returning just a few minutes later with Cas. Sam must have filled him in at least a little because the angel only said, "Get comfortable."

Gabriel lay back on the bed, curled on his left side, facing the door and Sam's side of the bed. Cas touched a finger to his forehead, and welcome blackness enfolded him like a warm blanket.


	27. Chapter 27

Sam had asked Cas to help him sleep too. He'd figured after Gabriel's emotional outpouring that he'd have a hard time sleeping.

When he finally awoke, feeling half-way rested, he checked his watch. Almost eight hours and no nightmares from each of them. That was good.

One of the things he didn't like about the Bunker was how there was never any sunlight. If they were on the surface, late afternoon sun would be shining through curtains, painting the floor in various colors. However, underground, the room was just dark.

Which was why when Gabriel's eyes opened, the faint shine in them almost seemed to light up the room.

Sam smiled, not sure if Gabriel could see it. "Your eyes are…uh…glowing a little bit."

The glow faded, plunging the room back into darkness.

"Mind if I turn on the lamp?"

"Go ahead. I like looking at you." His voice was soft, without a hint of sleepiness. Instead, Sam heard something in it that started a pleasant heat in the pit of his stomach.

He reached over, turned on the lamp, and the room lit up with a soft glow. He flopped back over to look at Gabriel, whose expression had gone serious.

"What?"

"I need you to do something for me, Sam."

A chill ran down his spine. "Sure, Gabe. Whatever you need."

A small smile lightened the mood slightly. "Nothing too bad, Sam, I don't think." He paused. "This is awkward, okay?”

"Take your time."

"I need to replace some bad memories. Are you willing to make very careful love to a more-than-slightly used archangel?"

Sam swallowed. "Of course, but are you sure? I mean, it hasn't been that long."

Gabriel nodded. "I'm sure." He closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. "Asmodeus. Well, he kind of got off on forcing…forcing me to…you know…when he was."

Sam got it and felt sick to his stomach. "Yeah, I get you, Gabe."

Gabriel opened his eyes again, and gratitude shone in them. "So, what I'm saying is that I need an honest to Dad orgasm. One that's under my own power instead of his. Can you help me with that, Sam?"

Sam let himself feel their link for a moment. _Disgust/hope/not-quite-but-almost arousal_. "Of course. Only…well…I've only ever been with girls. I mean, I knew about Dean going both ways for years, and I kind of did some research, but, well, I'm not really--"

Gabriel reached out and gently touched Sam's lips. "It's okay. I don't think I can handle much more than a mutual hand job right now anyway. Asmodeus had a 'no touching that way' policy, so that's about the only thing he didn't completely ruin for me."

Suddenly, Sam wished they could kill the Prince of Hell all over again. A surge of protectiveness rose in him, even though he knew Gabriel was thousands of times stronger than he ever would be.

_Not right now, Sam. Not right now. Right now, protectiveness is completely okay. And actually pretty hot._

Sam smiled and followed his instincts straight to Gabriel's lips.

The kiss started out chaste and gentle, just a brief touching of lips. Gabriel's breath was warm and sweet, a mixture of chocolate and fine single-malt whiskey. They kept it at that level for a while, just exploring each other.

Sam kissed his way down to Gabriel's neck and nuzzled the pulse point just below his ear. The archangel tilted to the side to give Sam better access.

Their positioning quickly became uncomfortable, with Sam getting a crick in his neck, so he pulled back and suggested, "Here. Lie on top of me."

He lay back, and Gabriel readily climbed on board. Now Sam had access to an expanse of back, and he wasted no time running his hands back and forth, rubbing Gabriel's back with the edge of his fingernails.

Oh. That was a turn on, apparently. Gabriel arched his back, and Sam felt a growing hardness between them.

 _Fear/pain/shame_ exploded over their link, and Sam immediately stopped moving, lifting his hands so Gabriel in no way felt confined.

The archangel froze in place, breath coming in harsh gasps.

Not sure what to do but again following his instincts, Sam reached through their bond and sent a strong pulse of _love/reassurance/safety/comfort._

Apparently, it was the right thing to do because Gabriel relaxed and lay down on Sam's chest.

"Sorry about that."

"Nothing to be sorry about." He remembered a couple of times he'd done basically the same thing to Amelia. She'd always patiently waited until he was able to continue.

So, Sam waited for Gabriel.

Several long minutes later, Gabriel stirred on his chest. "I'd like to try again, if that's okay?"

Sam smoothed an open palm down Gabriel's back. "Whatever you want. You tell me."

"I don't think I deserve you."

Sam smiled. "Probably not, but I think I'll keep you anyway."

"Oooh. A kept man. I like the sound of that."

Sam's hands stilled. "One question. Was it the fingernails or something else?"

Gabriel gave his lip a gentle nip before answering. "Definitely not the fingernails. Those are a keeper. I just need to remind my panic button that arousal is not automatically a bad thing anymore."

Sam considered and said, "Give me a minute. I want to try something."

"Okay."

Sam gathered his emotions for a moment and reached out to sense their link. Once he thought he had it, he sent a steady but subtle pulse of _safety_ down the link. While it would mean he'd have to concentrate on several things at once, he thought he could keep that up, at least for a little while.

He felt Gabriel's sudden inhale against his chest. "Sam. Don't you ever let anyone call you just a pretty face. You're brilliant. I think that might just work."

Sam allowed himself a smile at the compliment. “You lead. Set the pace. I'll follow along."

"Right."

Gabriel lifted his head and kissed Sam again. This time he didn't keep it shallow, licking Sam's lips in a request to deepen it.

Sam obliged by opening his lips and letting Gabriel's tongue wander through his mouth, exploring every nook and cranny. It felt…wonderful. Millennia of experience clearly paid off.

He felt Gabriel's delight at that through their link.

Gabriel did _something_ with his tongue, and Sam felt his cock go from zero to sixty _right then._ He almost lost the pulse of emotion he was still sending through their link, but he got it back quickly.

Which was good because the angel shifted their hips and slotted their erections together. It felt strange to Sam, but he thought he could get used to it.

 _Still okay_? he sent, just to check in.

 _Peachy_ was the response that came back.

Sam didn’t completely trust the response. There had been a hint of strain in the cheery response, and he upped the intensity of his sending.

Gabriel hummed against his lips. "I think we're both wearing too much."

Sam had forgotten they were both still wearing jeans. Before he had a chance to figure out logistics, Gabriel lifted one hand from where it had been playing idly with Sam's nipple through his shirt. A quiet _snap_ sounded in the room, and most of their clothes disappeared. Only boxers and t-shirts remained.

Sam understood. It had been a long time before he'd been comfortable with being completely naked with Amelia.

Gabriel's hand moved between them, seeking Sam's cock. A firm hand gripped him through his boxers, and Sam thrust into it.

"Nice, Sam. Who says size doesn't matter?"

"Not me," Sam gasped out as Gabriel's hand snaked into his boxers to grip him directly. "Can I?"

"Better not. Let's try this."

Another quiet _snap,_ and the boxers went away. Gabriel nudged Sam, who moved as directed. A moment later, Gabriel was gripping and rubbing both their cocks together with a steady motion.

As if that weren't enough, Gabriel leaned forward to kiss him, mirroring the motion of their cocks with his tongue in Sam's mouth.

It was all Sam could do to keep that steady pulse of _safety_ going through the link. He knew it was needed because he could feel a hint of controlled anxiety from Gabriel. If he lost his concentration, this would all blow up in their faces.

Sam was _not_ going to let that happen. So, he held on while Gabriel fucked his mouth with his tongue and their cocks with his fist.

Arousal and need sparked between them at Gabriel's sure motions. He sped up, obviously not wanting to draw this out. Sam approved.

Gabriel used his thumb to spread slick pre-ejaculate around their heads. Sam threw his head back. "Not gonna last much longer. Tell me now if that's going to be a problem."

Gabriel lifted his head from his worship of Sam's lips and whispered, "Come for me, Sam."

Sam did so, pleasure surging through him. He felt Gabriel's cock surge against him and knew the angel was coming too.

Once it was over, he lay back, breathing hard. It hadn't been the best orgasm of his life, but it had been very good. Especially since they'd managed it without Gabriel freaking out.

"Okay?" he asked.

Gabriel collapsed on top of him with a soft chuckle. "Never better, Sam."

While probably not strictly true, Sam smiled and let it stand.

They still had a lot of fighting and recovery ahead of them, but right now it was enough to be cuddled together, sticky and smelling of sex. Right now, that alone felt like winning a major battle.

_Amen, Sammy._

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The recruiting of Lucifer and the fight against AU!Michael will continue in my upcoming story, A Heaven of Hell, A Hell of Heaven. Posting begins on that one soon!


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